Distribuzione e Revenue

💰 Luis Gallego, CEO of IAG, will present the 2024 financial results next Friday, showing very positive numbers. The sales of the group, which includes Iberia, British Airways, Aer Lingus, Level, and Vueling, increased by 8%, reaching 31.7 billion euros. Profits rose to 4.1 billion euros, a 15% increase from the previous year. Details on individual airlines' performance were not disclosed, but both British Airways and Iberia are presumed to have achieved excellent results. Investors are keen on predictions for summer 2025 amidst rising costs noted by Tui and Jet2.

🛫 Italian aviation sector aims to link with the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (Pnrr) for sustainable development. In 2024, the sector demonstrated strong demand. Italy's aviation industry is worth €65 billion, with 219 million passengers and nearly 3 million associated jobs. Assoaeroporti seeks to include projects in Pnrr's lines M1 and M2, with a €9 billion self-financed development plan for Fiumicino airport awaiting approval. Enav improved approach routes, saving approximately 284 million kilograms of CO2, and further 400,000 kg from taxiing optimizations. The industry looks forward to new biofuels as the ultimate challenge.

🏖️ Jordan Tourist Board aims to double Italian arrivals in Jordan by 2025, compared to 2024. Italian visitors were at 1,549 by end of January 2025 with total international arrivals of 611,000, recovering from over 127,000 in 2023 to around 25,000 last season. Wael Al-Rousan, deputy manager director of JTN, noted a 15% increase in Gulf Cooperation Council nations, reaching 1.32 million overnight stays in 2024. Overall arrivals fell by 3% (from 6.4 million to 6.1 million) with spending down from €7.1 billion to €6.8 billion between 2023 and 2024. Jordan Tourism Board plans to leverage digital communication with a $30 million investment to revisit 2023 tourism records by the end of the following year.

📊 In 2024, Milan, Rome, and Madrid were the top European cities for business travel, accounting for 30% of corporate bookings via BizAway. Other Italian cities like Bologna, Turin, Florence, and Venice made the top ten. With business travel in Italy on the rise, BizAway saw a 57% increase in bookings compared to 2023. Giovanni Bernardi from BizAway highlights the recovery from the pandemic and optimism for 2025, as 52% of corporate buyers expect bigger business travel budgets.

🎈 Occupancy at a&o Hostel Mestre nearly hit 100% during the three weekends of Venice Carnival. Specifically, on the weekend of February 14-16, they reported 98% fullness for Saturday night, with 84% individual travelers and 16% small groups. Compared to 92% occupancy in 2024, 2023 saw a 2% increase and a shift from group to individual bookings. For the final weekend, February 28-March 2, the hostel is almost fully booked: 94% for Saturday, 72% for Friday and Sunday nights. According to hostel manager Francesco Siciliano, guests mainly stay for 2 nights, don't book early, and seek local advice, with a 24/7 reception available.

🏕 Turkey witnessed a strong start to the year with a 6.1% increase in foreign tourist arrivals in January, hitting 2.17 million. Notable rises from Iran (13.6% to 240.6k), Bulgaria (2.1% to 165.8k), and Germany (5.4% to 150.6k), while arrivals from Russia and Georgia declined by 11.6% and 4.3% respectively. Following a record year with 52.6 million international tourists and $61.1 billion in tourism revenue in the previous year, Istanbul remains the top destination with 18.6 million visitors.

💾 Sébastien Bazin, CEO of Accor, announced in 2024 that the hotel group closed the year with a revenue of 5.606 billion euros, an 11% increase from the previous year, and a 5.7-point rise in revPar. Accor opened 293 hotels, adding over 50,000 rooms, growing the network by 3.5%. By December 2024, the portfolio included 850,285 rooms across 5,682 hotels and a pipeline of over 233,000 rooms (1,381 hotels). Growth forecasts predict annual revPar increases of 3-4%, network expansion of 3-5%, and revenue growth of 6-10%.

💥 Maui experienced the largest hotel revenue per available room (RevPAR) decline in the US last year at -13.2%. The slump, 18 months after Maui's wildfires, also affected hotel occupancy and average daily rates. Efforts are being made to boost tourism and hotel occupancy through marketing funds and initiatives involving travel agencies and tour operators.

✈ Flydubai reported a record profit before taxes of $674 million for the fiscal year ending December 31, a 16% increase over the previous year. Revenue reached $3.5 billion, up 15% from $3 billion in 2023. EBITDA grew by 15% to $1.1 billion. In 2024, the airline transported 15.4 million passengers and expanded its network to 131 destinations in 55 countries, including 97 underserved markets. Despite delivery delays of new aircraft, flydubai still added destinations such as Basilea, Bhairahawa, Islamabad, Lahore, Kerman, Kish Island, Langkawi, Penang, Mombasa, and the Red Sea.

🏖️ European tourism in Q4 2024 saw a +6.7% increase in foreign arrivals and a +4.8% rise in overnight stays compared to Q3 2023. Tourists spent 7.8% more in Europe in 2024, totaling €705 billion, with Western Europe driving nearly three-quarters of the regional expenditure. Despite geopolitical instability and high travel costs due to inflation, off-season and winter travel remained strong. Southern Europe's tourism growth slowed, while Northern Europe, especially Iceland with a +14% increase in arrivals in Q4 driven by natural attractions like the aurora boreale, gained popularity. Extreme weather events affected travel, notably in Spain's Valencia province, causing a slump in growth (-4.2% in November, -6.3% in December). Long-haul travel from Asia/Pacific, particularly China, is still -39.6% below pre-Covid levels, while US transatlantic trips mostly surpassed 2019 levels, with Turkey (+153%), Portugal (+91%), and Montenegro (+49%) leading the recovery.