Israel-Hamas conflict is cooling international travel demand

The decline reverses a trend in which demand had been increasing sharply after international air travel plummeted during the pandemic

Demand for international flying has fallen in recent weeks, according to new data, with a significant hit to bookings to the Middle East in the first signs that the war between Israel and Hamas is affecting air travel.

Key takeaways

• Global flight bookings made in the three weeks after the October 7 Hamas cross-border raid on Israel were 20 per cent below 2019 levels, according to travel industry data company ForwardKeys;
• “This war is bound to put people off traveling to the region, but it has also dented consumer confidence in traveling elsewhere too,” the company said;
• While the hit to flights to the Middle East has been most dramatic, Bookings for outbound flights from the US have also taken a hit, with a 10 percentage point drop taking them from 6 per cent above 2019 levels to 4 per cent below.

Get the full story at the Financial Times