The global travel and tourism sector saw a total of 723 deals (mergers & acquisitions (M&A), private equity (PE), and venture capital (VC)) during 2023, a decline of 31.9 per cent compared to the 1,062 deals announced during the previous year, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

An analysis of GlobalData’s Deals Database reveals that all the deal types under the coverage witnessed notable decline in volume during 2023 compared to the previous year.

While the volume for M&A deals fell by 32.8 per cent, the number of PE and VC deals were down by 40 per cent and 27.9 per cent, respectively, during 2023 compared to 2022.

Aurojyoti Bose, lead analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Several factors were at play for the subdued deal activity across several sectors and the travel and tourism sector was not an exception to this global trend.  Notable among these factors include the ongoing geopolitical tensions, conflicts, fears of recession, inflation and interest rate hikes.”

North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa and South and Central America regions recorded decline in deals volume by 42.1 per cent, 35.9 per cent, 14.2 per cent, 23.3 per cent and 48.3 per cent, respectively, during 2023 compared to the previous year.

Meanwhile, deal volume also declined in several leading economies including the US (43.3%), the UK (29.7%), China (10%), Japan (41.8%), France (19.4%), South Korea (20%), Australia (37.1%), Spain (57.9%) and Canada (21.1%) during 2023 compared to 2022.

(Featrured Image: 3d rendering of meeting table with businessman, chairs and sky – iStock/akinbostanci)