Mastercard Recovery Insights: Italy, Russia, and France Lead Travel & Entertainment Spending Recovery in G20 Countries.

• New Report Spotlights the Rise of Boutique Hotels, the Return of the Road Trip, and Other Emerging Trends.

Mastercard, Train Travel

Photo: Train Travel. Image credit: Otis Yang.

MasterCard Chart

Photo: Mastercard Chart on the recovery of travel and entertainment spending across the G20 countries.

Purchase, NY. September 1, 2020 — Despite the challenges brought on by Covid-19, there are promising signs in consumer spending - including hard-hit sectors like travel, according to Mastercard Recovery Insights. Today, Mastercard released Recovery Insights: Travel Check-In, the second report in its series focused on the impacts of the pandemic, including emerging trends in travel spending.

In particular, the analysis of anonymized and aggregated sales activity across the Mastercard network, including in-person and online transactions, shows that Italy, Russia, and France are leading in the recovery of travel and entertainment spending across the G20 countries. It includes travel sectors such as airlines and lodging, as well as activities such as eating out. Despite being a focus of the pandemic earlier this year, Italy’s influential restaurant culture and extensive domestic tourism industry have helped it bounce back faster than other markets, including the U.S, Brazil, and India.

As the broader global economy begins to show signs of improvement, several trends have emerged that mirror overall consumer spending — in particular, the shift to a smaller retail radius as consumers travel and spend closer to home.

“There’s no doubt that people love to travel. What we see, though, is that how they’re traveling has adapted during this time. Gas spending, restaurant spending, and bike rental spending are improving, showing that the rebound is happening in local travel and local spending. In other words, for those of us in the U.S., the great American road trip has returned in a new way,” says Steve Sadove, Mastercard senior advisor and former CEO of Saks.

Overall key trends spotlighted in Mastercard Recovery Insights: Travel Check-In, according to the analysis of anonymized and aggregated sales activity across the Mastercard network, include:

Localism Takes Off: In Q2 2020, auto rental’s share of total transportation spending nearly doubled from 9% in 2019 to 17% as consumers prioritized local means of transport. For instance, in Switzerland and Germany, non-air travel made up roughly three-quarters of travel spending the week ending August 7. This tendency to travel closer to home has also driven the trajectory of rentals of micro-mobility solutions (e.g., scooters, bicycles) in countries like the U.S., where they surpassed 2019 levels at the end of July. The rebound of gas spending this summer also speaks to consumers getting out and spending but maintaining a tighter footprint.

The analysis shows that travelers are increasingly opting to stay small. Recently, the global recovery rate of small independent hotels has outpaced large hotels’ recovery by over 50%.

When looking at U.S. retail sales more broadly, there is also a rebound in spending. According to ‘Mastercard SpendingPulse,’ which tracks overall retail sales across all payment types, including cash and check, retail sales were down just -3 percent for the summer (June 1-August 15) compared to the same time last year. Total U.S. travel & entertainment retail sales, including airlines, lodging, and restaurants, improved in July (-21.5% year over year) compared to June (-25.9%), according to SpendingPulse.

Mastercard says that it has been committed to helping retailers, restaurants, CPG brands, and many others navigate the pandemic’s challenges - and now the recovery. It has included making specific insight-driven tools available at no cost to governments and small businesses to give a timely snapshot of economic performance during this time. Having the ability to make informed decisions is critical to the long-term success of companies, communities, and individuals around the world.

Mastercard launched Recovery Insights to help businesses and governments better manage the health, safety, and economic risks presented by COVID-19. The initiative draws on Mastercard’s analytics and experimentation platforms, its longstanding consulting practice, and unique data-driven insights to deliver relevant and timely tools, innovation, and research.

Mastercard is a global technology company in the payments industry. It says that its mission is to connect and power an inclusive, digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere by making transactions safe, simple, smart, and accessible.

Source: Mastercard

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Edited & Posted by the Editor | 11:25 PM | Link to this Post