The outlook is bright for long-haul travel, except for the US, according to the analysis of flight bookings by ForwardKeys.
The company, which tracks around 17 million flight booking transactions a day, said the climate in the US is expected to be ‘somewhat cooler’ than the rest of the world.
It said 2017 was an outstanding year for long-haul travel.
Globally, there was 7% growth. Inbound air travel to the Asia Pacific region was up 4.4%, to Africa and the Middle East flight arrivals were up 11.5% and to Europe they were up 13.3%.
The only negative was the Americas, where growth was virtually frozen at just 0.1% up on 2016.
Looking at the travel forecast for the first quarter of 2018, ForwardKeys said long-haul flight bookings are ‘generally exceptionally bright’ everywhere, 10.4% ahead of the equivalent moment last year.
Current long-haul bookings for the Asia Pacific region are 12% ahead of where they were last December.
The notable exception is the US, where bookings for international arrivals are just 2.6% ahead.
Olivier Jager, CEO Forward Keys, said: “One has to be optimistic. Despite 2017 being a year filled with economic and political uncertainty, it is one in which long-haul travel has grown strongly and that trend looks set to continue."
