The political unrest in the Middle East and the earthquakes in Japan have led to significant drops in hotel bookings, in both the short and long term, according to a report from Pegasus Solutions.
New Zealand, meanwhile, bounced back quickly after an earthquake earlier this year in Christchurch, according to Pegasus’ special analysis of the travel impact of recent social and natural setbacks for destinations.
The report appeared in a special issue of the Pegasus View, a monthly report on hotel booking data.
"We anxiously watched to find out how our hotel customers were affected by these historic events, as we did last year while waiting for the volcanic ash from Eyjafjallajokull to settle," said Mike Kistner, CEO of Pegasus Solutions.
"This special report of the Pegasus View gives us a more complete picture of what happened immediately leading up to and after these events as well as what the business on the books shows for the coming months in both [regions]."
The report opens with data from the Middle East and North Africa, where reservations for the region overall dropped off from what had been steady 40% increases in the three months — October through December — leading up to widespread protests. The increase in February was 16.4%.
The report suggests, however, that the longer-term impact might be more severe in the Middle East and North Africa. Net bookings as of February for stays through August declined by 85% compared with the same period last year, and rates were down 37.2% through the same period.
The analysis included data for hotels in key travel markets in the region, including Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Israel.
Of the destinations monitored for the report, Japan saw the most significant drop in bookings, with net reservation volumes declining from a year-over-year increase of 26.1% on March 10 to a triple-digit drop on March 11, when the 9.0-magnitude earthquake and the ensuing tsunami hit.
Cancellations soared, the report said, adding: "As one would expect, based on ongoing coverage of growing concerns regarding the nuclear disaster, forward-looking data shows no improvements in the immediate future."
Analysis of the impact of the Japan earthquake also includes data from Hawaii, which was hit by a smaller tsunami after the quake. The state experienced an immediate drop in bookings, from increases of 67.4% over 2010 on March 10 to a 23.8% drop on March 12. The report, however, predicted a relatively quick return to previous levels.
Data for New Zealand, which experienced a 6.3-magnitude quake on Feb. 22, showed an 80% drop in net bookings compared with 2010. While Christchurch and many of its hotels were hard hit, travel to the rest of the country has returned to normal.
Data reported in the Pegasus View comes from billions of transactions processed monthly by Pegasus Solutions, the world’s largest global processor of hotel transactions. The data comes from both GDS and alternative distribution system transactions.