The global travel industry made significant progress toward regaining pre-pandemic levels of business, with the Americas leading the way.

About 790 million tourists traveled internationally during the first seven months of the year, which is about 11 percent more than one year earlier. The 2024 figure is also a mere 4 percent less than 2019, before the global pandemic emerged, according to a new Travel Insights Report 2024 produced by Amadeus in partnership with UN World Tourism.

The Americas, in particular, have significantly rebounded from the pandemic years. The report, which covers September through December of this year, shows the Americas recorded 97 percent of pre-pandemic arrivals during the first seven months of 2024.

When looking at North America specifically, arrivals were 7 percent lower than pre-pandemic days for the study period. South America, meanwhile, recorded arrivals just 4.3 percent below 2019.

“Despite the challenges posed by inflation, the U.S. election, and other geopolitical factors, all subregions in the Americas are experiencing growth and high demand for travel during the peak season,” says the report.

Travelers are showing confidence as they are planning and booking trips earlier compared to last year, which is reflected in the year-over-year (YoY) increase in searches and travel agency bookings, the report adds.

Additionally, for many travelers, North America continues to be the favored subregion. The United States, Canada, and Mexico have held on to their top spots in the report’s rankings of the destinations most popular among tourists.

A number of other destinations in the Americas, however, are seeing notable year-over-year increases in bookings. Peru and Brazil, for instance, have experienced double-digit growth.

China and Japan are growing to be important source markets once again, now that travel restrictions have eased for both countries. Both have seen what the report calls “remarkably” year-over-year growth as major origin markets heading to the North America sub-region.”

Mexico has also emerged as a major contender as a source market for travel within the Americas due to favorable economic conditions.

“The peso is at an all-time high, making travel to other destinations in the Americas more accessible for Mexican travelers,” says the report.

South American travelers are also driving a surge and emerging as strong outbound players. Here too, the driving force is the “favorable economic and political conditions,” per the report.

Traveler with USA flag. (Photo Credit: kegfire / Adobe Stock)

Top 10 Most Searched Destinations

The report’s list of the 10 most searched destinations among travelers remains the same as what it was in 2023, with no changes at all in the ranking order. In other words, the U.S., Canada, and Mexico continue to top the rankings.

The full list of the top 10 searched destinations in the Americas are:

• U.S.
• Canada
• Mexico
• Brazil
• Argentina
• Columbia
• Dominican Republic
• Peru
• Chile
• Costa Rica

A handful of countries surged in popularity among travelers, with the highest year-over-year growth achieved by Curacao (up 30 percent), Chile (up 29 percent), Colombia (up 27 percent), El Salvador (up 25 percent) and Peru (up 24 percent.)

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