A total of 573 deals* were announced in the global travel and tourism sector during H1 2022, which is a year-on-year (YoY) increase of 3.1% over the 556 deals that were announced in H1 2021, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Deal activity has been fueled by improving deal-making sentiments in the travel and tourism sector following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions. In fact, an analysis of GlobalData’s Company Filings Database reveals that the mentions of business travel among corporates increased by 4% YoY in H1 2022 (as of June 13). However, this trend is not uniform across all the regions and markets.”

Deal activity improved by 11.7% and 11.9% YoY in Europe and North America, respectively, in H1 2022. In contrast, Asia-Pacific, Middle East & Africa and South & Central America recorded a decline of 10.2%, 20.8% and 7.1%, respectively.

Similarly, while travel and tourism deal activity improved in several key global markets, some markets experienced decline. Deal volume increased in markets including the US, the UK, India, Spain and Germany by 12.8%, 16.1%, 20.8%, 33.3% and 41.2%, respectively. Meanwhile, markets such as Japan, China, Australia, France and South Korea witnessed declines of 11.1%, 11.1%, 25%, 5% and 12.5%, respectively, in deal volume.

The number of venture financing and private equity deals announced decreased YoY by 12.3% and 14.6%, respectively, in H1 2022 while the number of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deals increased by 15%.

* Comprising M&A, private equity, and venture financing