Global Impact: demand outstripping supply as eager travellers have their wings clipped amid post-Covid travel boom
- Global Impact is a weekly curated newsletter featuring a news topic originating in China with a significant macro impact for our newsreaders around the world
- In this edition, we take the temperature of the Asian travel sector as it continues to open up after years of closed borders and quarantine
Air travel has always been a luxury – only around 20 per cent of the world’s population have ever flown – but with post-pandemic fares up almost everywhere in the world, it’s becoming even more so these days.
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Tour agency Jebsen Travel told the Post recently that fares were 15-40 per cent higher than they were in 2019. Some examples: a round-trip economy-class ticket to Tokyo currently costs around HK$5,100 (US$650) compared with around HK$3,800 in 2019; a ticket to Montreal, Canada, costs HK$27,000, compared with HK$17,000; the round-trip fare to Surabaya in Indonesia is now HK$5,620 compared with HK$3,600.
And across the globe, fares are forecast to keep rising through this year and into 2024.
To a large degree, supply and demand dictate prices – flights to the United States, Britain and Australia are among the most expensive from Hong Kong because many people want to fly those routes, and there are seats available, for example – but why is supply so lacking and demand so strong?