Duetto Pulse: Uncertainty puts bookers off but web traffic reveals increasing interest

Duetto Pulse: Uncertainty puts bookers off but web traffic reveals increasing interest

The revenue strategy specialist for the hospitality industry analyses market data for January 2021

Duetto, the revenue strategy specialist for the hospitality industry, analyses key market data for January 2021

The latest edition of the Pulse Report shows that despite ongoing and successful COVID vaccination roll-outs across the region, the majority of EMEA markets are continuing to feel serious effects of continued uncertainty amongst bookers.

This is due to continued lockdowns, border controls and restrictions in various countries across Europe.

A year after the first COVID case in Europe was reported in the media, COVID cases across EMEA remain high this month, although they do seem to have hit a plateau.

As such, hotel pick up continues to be very slow but January 2021 does show a rise in pace compared to December 2020, which was particularly slow due to Christmas.

There was an increase in net bookings of 224% and 214% for January and February stay dates respectively.

Looking at web traffic, it’s clear that appetite for travel is returning. For the stay months of February and March 2021, we see an increase of 85% and 55% respectively in January 2021 compared to December 2020.

It’s also interesting to note that there has been an increase in web searches for July, August and September 2021 of 47%, 72%, and 84% respectively, as it’s hoped that the majority of the region will be vaccinated by June or July 2021.

This shows that bookers are clearly beginning to look forward to some sort of normality in terms of travel.

The DACH region has experienced the highest increase in web searches over the last month.

Starting from March, not a single month saw an increase below 70%, compared to December 2020.

Similarly to 2020, it’s expected that domestic travel will be a key driver in demand for these markets during the summer months so it’s worth highlighting the 86%, 101% and 87% increase for the months of July, August and September respectively.

UK and Ireland saw a similar trend in January, although it was less accentuated. For July, August and September there was an increase in web searches of 85%, 91% and 59% respectively.

Juan Ruano, Duetto’s Director of Hospitality Solutions for the EMEA region, said: “DACH currently sits at between 89% and 70% down year-over-year for the next five months whereas web searches for this region are increasing at the highest pace in the whole of the EMEA region.

“It’s going to be interesting to see how the de-escalation of current restrictions in place impacts hotel demand and how quickly hotels can bounce back.

“UK and Ireland are still under severe restrictions. The number of hotels opened is higher than in the first lockdown but occupancies are very low.

“We are all expectant to see how long the restrictions remain in place and whether there is an opportunity for properties outside city hubs to accommodate guests during the Easter holidays.”

The Duetto Pulse Report is a monthly report available for free to hoteliers from around the world. It tracks key metrics for North America, Latin America, EMEA and APAC. Subscribe here: https://www.duettocloud.com/pulse-signup