Year-ender: How aviation and tourism sectors bounced back from the Covid curse in 2022

The sectors were resuscitated as travel restrictions were loosened and people almost over-compensated for staying indoors for almost two years

Since the coronavirus struck in 2020, civil aviation, tourism and hospitality sectors were among the worst hit as rising Covid-19 cases and subsequent restrictions and norms of social distancing led to a severe crash in their growth. The sectors are still striving to meet their pre-pandemic performance.

However, 2022 brought with it a period of revival as travel restrictions loosened across the globe and people almost over-compensated for staying indoors for nearly two years.

“2022 witnessed a rapid resurgence of travel. With the reopening of borders, easing of restrictions coupled with a restart of scheduled civil aviation, customer confidence in travel has been at its all-time high,” Daniel D’Souza, President at Mumbai-based SOTC Travel, told DH.

Despite considerable growth in 2022, the sectors are yet to catch up. Let's look at the numbers.

Also read | 2023: Recovery winds, airlines' expansion plans, Covid air pockets await Indian aviation sector

Aviation industry takes off after 2 years of turbulence

The aviation industry had a robust 1441.71 lakh domestic travellers in 2019, as per the DGCA data. After 2019, Covid-19 hit the country and arrested all travel. In 2020, passenger volume dropped to less than half of 2019, to 630.11 lakh. This improved slightly in 2021 and 2022 to 838.14 and 1105.1 lakh respectively. The passenger numbers in 2022, while on the climb, still lag compared to the pre-pandemic period.

The data for 2022 is only available till November. Taking into account festive December travel, the aggregate for 2022 might be higher, which could take the graph a little closer if not equal to 2019.

Taking a closer look at 2022, a gradual recovery in domestic passengers can be seen. While January carried the residue of Covid panic from 2021, with a muted third wave in several pockets of the country, from February onwards, the number of domestic passengers rose.

Month of 2022	Passengers carried by domestic airlines (in lakh)
January	64.08
February	76.96
March	106.19
April	105.47
May	114.67
June	105.12
July	97.05
August	101.16
September	103.55
October	114.07
November	116.79

November saw 116.7 lakh domestic flyers, the highest volume in any month this year, while the lowest was in January, with only 64.08 lakh flyers. Only July saw a slight decline in volume in the year. Owing to Christmas and New Year, the last month of 2022 is likely to see a high volume of travellers.

Redemption for Covid-hit tourism industry

With the spread of Covid-19, the tourism sector was one of the worst hit in the country. In 2019, before Covid-19, India witnessed the highest number of domestic tourist visits in the past decade. However, due to Covid-19 lockdowns, intra-India tourism saw a drastic drop in 2020. Though it recovered marginally in 2021, it was still nowhere close to 2019 levels.

Credit: India tourism statistics 2022

But 2022 brought with it some sun and fun. People started to go for vacations or staycations again, lifting the mood of the hospitality industry of India.

“The year 2022 witnessed increased travel demand due to positive consumer sentiment and our customers planned their much-awaited holiday after a gap of two years. With the reopening of commercial aviation and easing of restrictions, we witnessed significant pent up demand for international destinations as well. Currently, we are at approx. 85 per cent recovery v/s 2019,” said Rajeev Kale, President at Thomas Cook (India), said. Travel booking portal Cleartrip also reported that “booking share for the last week of December has increased by 1.5x in comparison to last year”.

Even internationally, there was good news as the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) said that international tourism recovered nearly 60 per cent of its pre-pandemic business in the first half of 2022. The report said international tourist arrivals almost tripled during January to July 2022 (+172 per cent) compared to the same period in 2021.

Also Read — Civil aviation sector witnessing strong V-shaped recovery; domestic passenger growth will continue: Scindia

'Tis the season to travel

Even though a complete recovery to pre-pandemic numbers is still far away, the last three months helped the tourism sector end the year with a bang.

Due to the excitement around the holiday season, the last three months have been a treat for most travel companies. “For the October - December quarter, we are at approximately 80 per cent recovery v/s 2019. What is noteworthy is that our domestic travel business is witnessing an upward trajectory; an overall growth of 3.7x v/s pre-pandemic levels – with over 25 per cent of our customer base for the season comprising new customers, also young India,” said SOTC Travel's D'Souza said.

As per data released by Oyo, India has witnessed a 44 per cent increase in booking demand during Christmas week as compared to 2021. Destinations such as Goa, Hyderabad, Puri, Manali, and Kolkata emerged as top choices for travellers during this time.

In terms of air traffic, October and November witnessed significant growth compared to the corresponding period of 2021 and 2020.

In November 2019, a whopping 129.47 lakh passengers travelled on domestic flights while this dropped to 63.54 lakh in 2020. This rose to 105.16 lakh in 2021 and further strengthened to 116.79 lakh passengers this year.

2023 outlook

From Tata group taking control of loss-making Air India to Akasa Air commencing operations to Jet Airways' future remaining uncertain, 2022 leaves the domestic airlines' industry with many key developments. Also, the government's ECLGS (Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme) provided the much-needed financial relief to budget carriers -- SpiceJet and Go First.

As the aviation sector is climbing higher in terms of passengers and planes, the number of airports are also going up, with new ones being inaugurated at Goa and Arunachal Pradesh. The country has 146 operational airports, heliports and water aerodromes, and the government's aim is to have at least 200 operational airports in the coming years.

"I believe that the civil aviation sector has rebounded and what we in economic parlance say is a V-shaped recovery. A very strong V-shaped recovery... I am very confident that this growth in India will continue in the years to come," Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said in an interview to PTI this week.

Also, this year, scheduled international flights to and from India restarted in March after more than two years.

While the focus in 2023 will be on profitability and possible impact of Covid, the outlook definitely is positive.