Tourism and aviation are on the mend, boosting Latin America’s travel sector.
Latin America offers a wealth of contradictions: One of the regions least prone to all-out war of the type currently playing out in the Middle East and Europe, yet plagued by wobbly infrastructure, corruption, criminality, structural poverty and declining social standards.
Thus, it is no surprise that Latin American countries were some of the worst affected Covid-19. Like elsewhere, travel and aviation were among the sectors hardest hit; unlike elsewhere, both have made a strong comeback.
PhocusWright, a specialized travel market research company, found that Latin America surpassed its pre-pandemic travel revenue by 29% at the end of 2023, reaching $62.1 billion. “Growth in the region will remain strong, and we forecast that by the end of 2024, the total market revenue should be $71.7 billion,” says Carolina Sass de Haro, PhocusWright’s senior analyst for the Latin American market and a managing partner of MAPIE, a Brazilian consultancy specializing in the tourism sector.
Oxford Economics forecasts slightly weaker economic growth in Latin America in 2024, but still predicts the region will outperform most advanced economies—with travel and tourism key drivers of economic growth.
Bolstering that growth will be strong US demand, the source of 48% of the Latin American inbound travel market, Oxford Economics predicts; American visitors spent an average 17% more in 2023 than they did in 2019. Intraregional travel will account for 34% of market share in 2024, the firm says; in many of the region’s countries, the domestic market is stronger than the foreign.
This is particularly the case in aviation. Latin America’s load factor is currently 84.7%: the highest in the world, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
According to Peter Cerda, IATA’s vice president for the Americas, last year was a success for airlines in Latin America….
