Holiday bookings up between US, Cebu

TOURISTS are indeed returning with a vengeance.

A recent study by Trevolution Group revealed that travel reservations made between the United States and Cebu, Philippines in December 2022 and January 2023 have already reached 70 percent of the reservations made during the same period in 2019-2020.

“The first quarter of the year is traditionally the peak time for the Philippines tourism season, and the current outlook for the upcoming months is strong. Every third ticket from the United States to the Philippines is booked during the first three months of the year,” Peter Vazan, chief executive officer of ITN, a company that is affiliated with the Trevolution Group, said in a statement.

Vazan said the winter holiday season remains the busiest time for visiting friends and relatives each year. He said that “the changing booking patterns may mean more passengers will book their flights only weeks away from the holiday, but it likely won’t make it possible to reach the 2019 traffic levels.”

The top US airports, from which passengers have booked flights to Cebu for the winter holiday period are Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Chicago and Seattle.

Trevolution Group has established itself as the market leader in the travel business, specializing in the visiting friends and relatives segment. Over 70,000 airline tickets and vacation packages are sold by Trevolution monthly, which makes it the fifth-largest travel consolidator in the US. It incorporates the travel businesses of the Dyninno Group of companies, which provides products and services in the finance, travel and entertainment sectors.

The resurgence of travel both international and domestic has been boosted by the easing of travel restrictions around the globe.

Earlier, the United Nations World Tourism Organization says international tourism is on track to reach 65 percent of pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2022 as the sector continues to bounce back from the pandemic.

An estimated 700 million tourists traveled internationally between January and September, more than double (+133 percent) the number recorded for the same period in 2021. This equates to 63 percent of 2019 levels.

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