What: Visa’s take on the current and coming situation of global retail.

Why it is important: The situation is not as bleak as it seem: the current top 5 destination does not represent the future, and short/medium haul travels are already back to 2/3 of their 2019 levels. Visa expects the situation to return to normal sooner than what metrics currently show. However, the report does not make any mention of the Omicron variant.

Visa is taking stock on the global travel market, which by then was expected to reach 280m travellers within 2025, while it actually fell to 55m in S1 2021. Visa expects however that the return to previous expectations could be sooner than what current metrics show. It seems that as soon as the vaccination processes in various countries, as well as the reopening of borders, come into effect, the rebound is stronger than anticipated. Short and medium-haul trips are already at 2/3 of their 2019 levels.

However, the map of popular destinations has shifted: while Paris, London, Barcelona, Istanbul and Amsterdam represented the top 5 destinations in 2019, in 2021 the top 5 was made of Istanbul, Antalya, Dubai, Balearic Islands and Paris. Visa expects that these travel patterns, due to global restrictions, are temporary and that does not represent a glimpse of the new “travel normal”.