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Coronavirus Updates

The u.s. lifts the pandemic travel ban and opens the doors to international visitors.

The Associated Press

Passengers walk through Salt Lake City International Airport, Oct. 27, 2020. More than a year and a half after COVID-19 concerns prompted the U.S. to close its borders to international travelers from countries including Brazil, China, India, South Africa, the U.K. and much of Europe, restrictions are shifting to focus on vaccine status. Rick Bowmer/AP hide caption

Passengers walk through Salt Lake City International Airport, Oct. 27, 2020. More than a year and a half after COVID-19 concerns prompted the U.S. to close its borders to international travelers from countries including Brazil, China, India, South Africa, the U.K. and much of Europe, restrictions are shifting to focus on vaccine status.

The U.S. lifted restrictions Monday on travel from a long list of countries including Mexico, Canada and most of Europe, allowing tourists to make long-delayed trips and family members to reconnect with loved ones after more than a year and a half apart because of the pandemic.

Starting Monday, the U.S. is accepting fully vaccinated travelers at airports and land borders, doing away with a COVID-19 restriction that dates back to the Trump administration. The new rules allow air travel from previously restricted countries as long as the traveler has proof of vaccination and a negative COVID-19 test. Land travel from Mexico and Canada will require proof of vaccination but no test.

Airlines are expecting more travelers from Europe and elsewhere. Data from travel and analytics firm Cirium showed airlines are increasing flights between the United Kingdom and the U.S. by 21% this month over last month.

The change will have a profound effect on the borders with Mexico and Canada, where traveling back and forth was a way of life until the pandemic hit and the U.S. shut down nonessential travel.

Malls, restaurants and Main Street shops in U.S. border towns have been devastated by the lack of visitors from Mexico. On the boundary with Canada, cross-border hockey rivalries were community traditions until being upended by the pandemic. Churches that had members on both sides of the border are hoping to welcome parishioners they haven't seen during COVID-19 shutdown.

Loved ones have missed holidays, birthdays and funerals while nonessential air travel was barred, and they are now eager to reconnect.

River Robinson's American partner wasn't able to be in Canada for the birth of their baby boy 17 months ago because of pandemic-related border closures. She was thrilled to hear the U.S. is reopening its land crossings to vaccinated travelers.

"I'm planning to take my baby down for the American Thanksgiving," said Robinson, who lives in St. Thomas, Ontario. "If all goes smoothly at the border I'll plan on taking him down as much as I can. Is crazy to think he has a whole other side of the family he hasn't even met yet."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. will accept travelers who have been fully vaccinated with any of the vaccines approved for emergency use by the World Health Organization, not just those in use in the U.S. That means that the AstraZeneca vaccine, widely used in Canada, will be accepted.

For air travelers, the airlines are required to verify vaccine records and match them against ID, and if they don't, they could face fines of up to nearly $35,000 per violation. Airlines will also collect information about passengers for contact tracing efforts. There will be CDC workers spot-checking travelers for compliance in the U.S. At land borders, Customs and Border Protection agents will check vaccine proof.

The moves come as the U.S. has seen its COVID-19 outlook improve dramatically in recent weeks since the summer delta surge that pushed hospitals to the brink in many locations.

Expedia's loss bigger than feared as COVID-19 resurgence hits travel

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Reporting by Sanjana Shivdas in Bengaluru; Editing by Ramakrishnan M.

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Factbox: EU probes on Chinese subsidies and imports

The European Union launched an investigation into China's procurement of medical devices on Wednesday in a latest effort to protect home-grown manufacturers.

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680 tour agencies in Singapore closed in last 5 years amid industry gloom

SINGAPORE ( THE NEW PAPER ) - Sixty travel agencies have closed so far this year, even before the end of the first quarter.

If the trend continues, the figure will surpass 200 by year-end, spelling more gloom for an industry that is evolving at such a pace that it has seen nearly 680 casualties since 2013.

There are 1,169 agencies still operating.

Reasons cited by industry players include changes in consumer travel habits and the increased presence of online booking websites such as Trivago and Expedia.

While large agencies seem better equipped to stay the course, the smaller players are finding it much harder to stay afloat.

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) told The New Paper that as the industry evolved, traditional agents are being hit by online platforms, which typically offer cheaper prices.

Its director of travel agents and tourist guides, Ms Ong Ling Lee, said: "(Travel agents) are being disintermediated as it becomes easier for customers to buy travel products directly."

STB's Travel Related Users' System (Trust) figures show that 101 agencies closed in 2013, 111 in 2014, and 117 in 2015.

The last two years have been even worse, with a total of 290 closures.

An STB spokesman said about 100 to 120 travel agencies close every year. Most of these are orderly closures or businesses which let their licenses expire for reasons like retirement or change in business focus.

The STB spokesman added that the rate of new agencies opening and business exits has remained "fairly constant" over the years.

The Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) agreed that tech-savvy consumers prefer to book their flights and hotels online.

But its executive director, Mr Loy York Jiun, added: "It is also possible the closures could be due to business failure (in other areas).

"For example, it was reported that Asia-Euro Holidays had closed down due to financial woes after its various property investments failed."

Industry expert Chew Kian Beng said most of the 60 closures this year were small- and medium-sized agencies that were less than three years old.

Mr Chew, who is section head for Temasek Polytechnic's diploma in hospitality and tourism management, told TNP: "They may have lacked experience, unique offerings and customer base to cope in the fast-changing landscape."

Ms Alicia Seah, Dynasty Travel's director of public relations and communications, said it has remained profitable because of customer loyalty.

She also said travel agencies must leverage on technology to improve service, efficiency and market reach.

Dynasty Travel now lets its customers make bookings online and pay using AXS machines.

Chan Brothers Travel also relies on brand recognition, extra services and use of tech to get repeat business.

Apart from online transactions, the agency also offers semi tours combining the convenience of a package tour and the flexibility of a free-and-easy holiday.

Its marketing communications executive Justine Koh said: "Travellers might think online platforms offer better free-and-easy deals.

"But we provide added services, such as a 24-hour emergency hotline that those who are not part of a tour group can call."

Less well-known agencies face different challenges.

LGE Travel managing director Ken See said: "We do not do a lot of advertising and publicity, so we rely a lot on word-of-mouth and return customers."

Specialising in Europe tours, it also tries to offer unusual itineraries such as its Northern Lights package, a 12-day tour to Finland, Sweden and Norway.

But Mr See was concerned how the spate of closures, which invariably leaves customers in the lurch, will affect the reputation of the industry, with lesser-known agencies taking the biggest hit.

He said: "Customers become more wary of travelling with lesser-known agencies because they fear losing their hard-earned money."

Undergraduate Emerik Viriya, 21, said that while he uses both brick-and-mortar agencies and websites, he prefers the latter.

He said: "I feel online platforms like Trivago are more transparent with pricing.

"I can compare different deals and find something that has the best value for money."

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The 2021 Travel Agent COVID Report

How has COVID impacted travel advisors? HAR’s 2021 Travel Agent Survey profiled travel advisors of all kinds—hosted advisors, independent advisors (who have their own accreditation), franchisees, and travel agent employees. This year, with critical support from our industry friends, we received 1,100+ responses who weighed in on travel agent income and fees .

This steller turnout provides us with a unique opportunity to take a critical look at advisor income, bookings, sales, job satisfaction, business operations, and more. In particular, we adjusted the survey to gauge how COVID impacted these factors for advisors.

We’re going to take a hard look at some hard data. Here’s what we’ll cover in our COVID report (click on links below to fast-forward to the section).

⭐️ HAR Article Highlights: ⭐️

• The 2021 Travel Agent COVID Report [Infographic] : A visual look at the data
• Travel Advisors’ Work Reduction During COVID
• Do Advisors Plan to Return to Their Previous Workload?
• COVID’s Income Impact: How much did travel advisors’ sales decrease in 2020?
• Which Advisors Didn’t Lose Sales? : The shared qualities of industry unicorns
• Participation in Assistance Programs: How many advisors applied and what assistance did they receive?
• Outside Employment: How many advisors worked outside the industry during COVID?
• Agency Operations: What did agencies do to cut costs during COVID?
• How Did COVID Impact Travel Advisors’ Fee Charging Habits?
• Travel Advisors and Vaccination: How do advisors’ vaccination rates compare to the overall U.S. population?
• Bonus: What hobbies did advisors pick up during the pandemic?

It’s hardly a spoiler alert to write that the travel industry (among many) was capsized by COVID’s impact. But before we launch into data that quantifies the extent of the damage, we want to start with a piece of good news: travel advisors have an opportunity to resurface to brighter opportunities for the profession.

44% of travelers who didn't originally use a travel advisor before the pandemic plan to when they begin traveling

There’s pent-up demand for travel . Travelers are ready to get back on the road, and they’re already booking trips. ARC reported an August 2021 Travel Agency Air Ticket Sales Increase of 328% (from 2020).

Better yet, this pent-up demand translates to a higher demand for travel advisor services. Erika Richter, Senior Director of Communication for ASTA, noted at the ASTA Global Convention that 44% of travelers who didn't originally use a travel advisor before the pandemic plan to when they begin traveling and 97% of those who used a travel advisor pre-pandemic will continue to do so.

And it’s not just the travel industry that’s noticing the increased need for travel advisors. The Boston Globe , Consumer Reports , Wall Street Journal , and Barron's all recently published pieces about the importance of travel advisors.

What this means is that advisors’ measures to rebuild, to advocate for greater congressional support, and to resume operations are not merely a matter of salvaging the industry. It’s doing the hard work of rebuilding the industry to place it on a trajectory toward a more promising future.

The 2021 Travel Agent COVID Report [Infographic]

The infographic below offers a look at what topics you can expect to dig into during this report. It’s kind of like the crib notes:

Work Reduction: COVID'S impact on travel advisors' livelihoods

When the travel restrictions began to take effect in March 2020, many travel advisors remained busy canceling bookings, rebooking trips, processing refunds, and securing future cruise credits (FCCs) and letters of credit. Additionally, advisors also assisted clients who were traveling during the outbreak to navigate quickly-developing travel restrictions for a safe return home.

Once the dust settled on the initial flurry of cancellations and securing routes home, workloads among travel advisors were overwhelmingly reduced.

In the following sections, we look at how COVID impacted advisors’ work hours and income stability.

FROM FULL-TIME TO PART-TIME: MOST TRAVEL ADVISORS REDUCE WORK HOURS

During COVID, the majority of advisors transitioned from working full-time (FT) hours (30+ hours/week) to working part-time (PT) hours ≤30 hours/week), with the percentage of agents who reported selling travel FT dropping from 60% to 25%. The graph below compares the FT/PT distribution pre-pandemic versus during the pandemic:

This trend is most clearly defined by looking at minimal hours (≤5 hours/week) worked. Before the pandemic, only 7% of agents reported working minimal hours. However, during the pandemic, this percentage skyrocketed to 30%, with nearly ⅓ of all respondents working ≤5 hours weekly.

Below the graph offers a full picture of hours worked pre-pandemic compared to during the pandemic:

The graph illustrates the “before and after” effect of COVID on weekly hours worked: The orange bar depicts how the trend reversed during COVID, whereas the pre-covid green bar more closely represents how many weekly hours travel advisors clocked during a typical year.

It’s important to note that the 25% of advisors who worked full time (30+ hrs/week), did not likely invest much time in booking new travel. While HAR didn’t explicitly ask how FT advisors spent in the COVID interim, anecdotally we know advisors spent a significant amount of work hours on professional development—automating communications and implementing new tech; client relationship-building and maintenance; brand, content, and website development—as opposed to booking travel.

BEFORE & DURING COVID: IS SELLING TRAVEL YOUR PRIMARY SOURCE OF INCOME?

To gauge advisors’ income dependence on selling travel, we asked, “Is selling travel your primary source of income?” This year, we adapted the question to COVID times by asking if selling travel was a primary source of income before and during COVID.

• During the pandemic, the percentage of advisors selling travel as a primary source of income dropped an additional 16 points, from 52% to 36%.

Before the coronavirus outbreak, 52% of travel agents sold travel as a primary source of income. Pandemic aside, this pre-COVID statistic is a lower number than last year when a record percentage of travel advisors reported selling travel as a primary source of income (64%). 1

It’s important to note that the 36% of travel advisors who sold travel as a primary source of income during COVID—despite the precipitous decline in bookings—did not indicate a sustainable income. Rather, it suggests they were dependent on travel income despite pandemic conditions and lack of revenue.

In a later section, we’ll review what assistance programs and other revenue streams advisors relied on to make ends meet during the pandemic.

DO TRAVEL ADVISORS PLAN TO RETURN TO THEIR PREVIOUS WORKLOAD?

We asked agents who stopped selling travel as a primary source of income if they planned to resume selling travel as a primary source of income.

The majority of these career travel advisors 2 remain committed to a career in selling travel: 78% of travel advisors plan to return to selling travel as a primary source of income , 17% are unsure, and 5% reported they will not go back to selling travel as a primary source of income:

This suggests that career advisors who made it through the pandemic are overwhelmingly motivated to remain on their career trajectory. In a later section, we’ll look at which assistance programs travel agents relied on to continue operations.

Travel Agent Income Loss in 2021: How much did bookings and sales decrease in 2021?

Unless you’re one of the rare industry unicorn s who made more bookings during 2020’s COVID summer than the previous year, the overwhelming decrease of bookings and sales will come as no surprise.

Unicorns aside, most advisors (83%) had a decrease in sales in 2020.

The most common response to, What percentage of bookings did you permanently lose in 2020? was 100%.

Among this majority segment, most agents (39%) reported they lost over 81-100% of their sales, and 11% lost over 100% of their sales.

Below you can see the entire breakdown of travel agents’ sales decrease:

This decrease in sales translated directly to lost bookings: the most common response to, “What percentage of bookings did you permanently lose in 2020?” was 100%, and the median amount of lost bookings reported by agents was 75% .

LET’S TALK MORE ABOUT UNICORNS (TRAVEL ADVISORS THAT DIDN’T LOSE SALES IN 2020)

As much as I believe in unicorns, it’s difficult to fathom that even 8% of travel advisors did not lose sales in 2020. We decided to take a closer look at this segment (the industry unicorns) to find some common denominators among the small percentage of advisors who didn’t lose sales.

Here’s what we found out:

• 62% had fewer than three years of experience: 62% of advisors who did not lose sales had fewer than five years of experience. Since it takes time to generate sales when starting an agency (often 3+ years), it makes sense that advisors with fewer years of experience were less likely to lose sales.
• 74% didn’t sell travel as a primary source of income before COVID: A majority, 74%, of advisors who didn’t lose sales in 2020 did not sell travel as a primary source of income before COVID.
• They had fewer clients: We ask in our survey how many clients advisors worked with the previous year. Those who did not lose sales in 2020 worked with the fewest clients. 85% worked with 50 or fewer clients in 2020.

AGENCY OWNERS SLASHED SALARIES

We asked agency owners if they paid themselves a salary as a part of their compensation structure (applicable to S or C Corp business structures). While the majority of travel advisors do not adhere to this compensation model, 14% reported they paid themselves an annual salary in 2020.

Of this segment, 84% reported decreasing their annual salary in 2020 in response to COVID . The median salary decrease was 60%.

Assistance Programs & Outside Income: What revenue streams did advisors rely on to supplement income during the pandemic in 2020?

55% of travel agents applied for an assistance program, and 95% of travel agents who applied received some type of aid .

The bar graph below shows what percentage of agents applied for different assistance programs:

And below we look at the success rate for different assistance programs:

Pandemic unemployment assistance (PUA) was the most common assistance program travel advisors sought, followed by PPP loans and EIDL.

However, programs with the highest success rate did not align with their popularity. The top 4 programs in terms of success rate were:

• PUA (Pandemic Unemployment Assistance)
• CERB (Canadian Emergency Response Benefit)
• Private Grants
• EIDL (Economic Injury Disaster Loans)

ADVISORS SOUGHT EMPLOYMENT OUTSIDE THE INDUSTRY

In addition to applying for aid, many travel advisors worked outside the travel industry to buffer their income during COVID. 37% of travel advisors overall reported working outside selling travel due to COVID.

Working outside the travel industry also impacted the likelihood to apply for aid. Among those who did not apply for any assistance, 40% worked outside the travel industry. One explanation may be that alternative employment would preclude advisors from qualifying for the most popular assistance program, pandemic unemployment assistance (PUA).

WHICH ADVISORS APPLIED FOR ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS?

Industry experience played the largest role in the likelihood to apply for assistance. Advisors were more likely to apply for assistance programs as they gained experience.

The graph below illustrates what percent of advisors applied for assistance programs by experience category:

On the other end of the spectrum, new advisors—those with ≤3 year experience—were less likely to apply for pandemic assistance.

However, advisors newer to the industry were less likely to qualify for assistance programs due to the amount of time it takes to generate enough income to become eligible. (Read here why it takes time for new agents to start earning a sustainable income ).

While experience had some correlation to the likelihood to apply, it did not impact the success rate of applications among those who did apply. When factoring experience, the percentage of advisors who applied for aid closely aligned with the percentage who received it.

Travel Agency Operations: How the pandemic changed business structures & practices

We asked travel advisors how they adapted their travel agency operations in light of COVID. Here’s a breakdown of what they had to say:

The majority of travel agencies stayed open with limited hours (40%) or regular hours (40%) . However, 13% temporarily closed and 2% permanently closed due to COVID.

It’s important to note that the 2% closure rate may be artificially deflated due to the timing and nature of HAR’s survey. Since our survey was released in June 2021, well into the pandemic, it’s not likely it would have attracted agencies that closed prior to our survey period.

While the overwhelming majority of agencies surveyed were home-based (92%) and 8% were storefronts, location influenced how agencies adapted operations. Storefronts were less likely to remain open with full hours compared to home-based agencies, 22% versus 42% respectively.

Additionally, storefront agencies were more likely to temporarily close, 26% compared to 12% of home-based agencies.

DESPITE PANDEMIC AID, MANY AGENCIES DOWNSIZE

Before the coronavirus outbreak, 25% of agencies reported having travel agent employees and/or ICs. Below, the graph shows the breakdown of IC and employee distribution among agencies before March 15, 2020.

By the end of 2020, only 20% of agencies reported having employees and/or ICs. Next, we’ll look at how agencies amended their personnel infrastructure to adapt to COVID.

AGENCIES WITH EMPLOYEES:

71% of agencies that reported having employees before the pandemic had to downsize.

Of those agencies, 53% laid off employees, 45% reduced employee work hours and/or pay, and 48% furloughed employees. The graph below illustrates steps agencies took to downsize:

Respondents were allowed to select more than one choice, which explains why it totals above 100%.

The 5% of agencies replied wrote in “other,” with alternatives to downsizing personnel including:

• Cutting operational budgets
• Did partial unemployment
• Moved to a smaller storefront location
• Closing storefront/ transitioning to a home-based model

AGENCIES WITH INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS (ICS):

Before COVID, 20% of agencies overall reported having ICs. During the pandemic, a smaller percentage of agencies lost ICs when compared to agencies with employees (34% compared to 71%).

Below the graph shows the percentage of agencies that lost, maintained, and gained ICs during COVID:

A majority of agencies, 58%, reported no change in their IC volume whereas 34% lost ICs. 8% of agencies reported they gained ICs during the pandemic.

Gaining ICs during a pre-vaccinated pandemic may seem like an anomaly, but there are two explanations that can account for the IC gain during that window:

• 23% of agencies with a decrease in employees experienced an increase in their IC numbers. This possibly points to an employee-to-IC conversion, which suggests that some agencies' IC gain during the coronavirus pandemic came at the expense of fewer employees. ( Note: IC misclassification --treating ICs as employees--can have severe consequences and something every agency with ICs needs to be aware of. )
• IC growth can be attributed to ICs that switched host agencies in 2020: 10% of hosted ICs switched host agencies, which would account for some agencies’ 2020 IC gain. (We’ll dig more into hosted agent info in our 2021 Host Travel Agent Income Report soon!)

ADVISORS MORE LIKELY TO CHARGE FEES IN LIGHT OF COVID

43% of survey respondents reported charging fees in 2020, while 57% did not. 3 This is a decline from last year’s survey when 55% of agents overall charged fees. 4

One explanation is that consolidating our fee and income survey into one impacted who participated. In previous years, it’s possible our stand-alone fee survey was more likely to attract fee-charging agents. 5

Despite this, a significant percentage of travel advisors who reported charging no fees, 33%, plan to start charging fees in the next 12 months.

COVID was the lead motivating factor for advisors to embrace fees with 70% reporting that the pandemic impacted their decision.

Below the graph indicates advisors’ who previously didn't charge fees intentions in the next 12 months:

COVID was the lead motivating factor for agents to embrace fees with 70% reporting that the pandemic impacted their decision. (In later reports, we’ll take a deeper dive into fee practices and motivations. Sign up for the newsletter to make sure you don't miss it!)

Travel Advisors Overwhelming Embrace Vaccination

To compare the vaccination rate among travel professionals in comparison to the national (US) average, we asked participants about their vaccine status. 85% of travel advisors reported that they were fully vaccinated , 9% reported they were not vaccinated, and 6% asked us to mind our own business :)

Travel advisors are much more likely to be vaccinated compared to the general (US) public, whereas only 49.5% of the general population was fully vaccinated as of the close of our survey (July 31, 2021). 6

We also asked if traveling was a motivating factor to get vaccinated. The majority, 53%, responded that it was:

It’s important to note that our survey closed on July 31st and that it's likely more advisors have become vaccinated since that time.

The Best For Last: Advisors mastered pandemic hobbies you’ve probably never even heard of before

It turns out that nearly 100% of advisors are hobbyists . . . but not the kind of hobbyist that you may be thinking of!

We know all you active entrepreneurs can't really sit still during a pandemic (if you even had that opportunity in the first place). So we asked participants, What hobbies did you pick up during the pandemic?

This is the palate cleanser to our report. I have to say, it’s a beautiful sight to behold. We offered ten different hobby choices for advisors to select plus a write-in option.

But let’s be real. For many, it didn’t slow down one bit for those who weren’t picking up new jobs, working other full-time jobs, managing kids’ school-from-home, caretaking for relatives and/or spending all their “free” time on the phone trying to reach suppliers trying to secure refunds, cancellations, or letters of credit. Seriously, hats off to y’all.

For those who did sneak in a little downtime, here’s what they did:

But hold up, it does NOT end there. In fact, this graph is futile in terms of serving as documentation of advisors’ pandemic hobbies. Why? It doesn’t include the “other” write-in option.

And you’re NOT going to believe this, but we had 298 different write-ins for hobbies. Including one whose pandemic hobby was survey taking. ;)

Some we’ve never even heard of before. (“Diamond art” . . . is that the luxury version of seed art? “Sublimation printing”? Hello, Google!) There’s pet adoption, aircraft operations, Crossfit, prayer, duck hunting, house flipping, home brewing, having babies, providing foster care (💚😭), orange picking, rabbit raising, puppy training, rug making, RVing, wine drinking (LOTs of wine drinking), businesses startups (shoulda seen that one coming too, you entrepreneurs you!), romance (and historical fiction!) novel-writing.

But perhaps what should have been the least surprising write-in was traveling. Should have seen that one coming too. There were also those who were brutally honest with mentions of crying corners.

We love all these hobbies from the bottom of our happy hearts.

Key Takeaways

• During COVID, the majority of advisors transitioned from working full-time (FT) hours (30+ hours/week) to working part-time (PT) hours ≥30 hours/week), with the percentage of agents who reported selling travel FT dropping from 60% to 25%.
• The majority of these career travel advisors remain committed to a career in selling travel: 78% plan to go back to selling travel as a primary source of income, 17% are unsure, and 5% reported they will not go back to selling travel as a primary source of income
• 83% of advisors experienced a decrease in sales in 2020. Among this majority segment, 68% of travel advisors lost over 60% of sales.
• Of the small percentage of agents who did not lose sales in 2020, 81% had less than five years of experience and 74% did not travel as a primary source of income before COVID.
• The median 2020 salary decrease among advisors who paid themselves a salary was 60%.
• 55% of travel agents applied for an assistance program, and 95% of travel agents who applied received some type of aid.
• Advisors with the most experience (15+ years) applied for assistance at the highest rate.
• 71% of agencies with employees before the pandemic downsized in 2020.
• 85% of travel advisors reported that they were fully vaccinated as of July 31, 2021.

Data Is the Gift that Keeps on Giving . . . Stay Tuned

Um. Wow. That was pretty thrilling. If you're as excited by this data as the HAR crew, then you're definitely in the right industry!!!! We are cooking up other great information including a report on independent agents, new-to-industry agents, a demographic report, and travel agency employees!

A Huge THANK YOU

Not gonna lie. The thank you section of this report could be longer than the report itself (31 pages up to this point, but who’s counting? 🙋🏻‍♀️)

Thank so much to the HAR crew who mind-meld, collaborate, and talk me off ledges as I panic over deadlines and data. Not to wax sentimental, but y’all are my chosen family when it comes to colleagues . . . I’m looking at you, April Oliveira (marketing queen and creators of all graphs and images), Dr. Maga Gei (who I fondly refer to as our “data whisperer”), Steph Lee (does she even need an intro?), and Maureen Bourcy (who’s patience and insights bring my blood pressure down in ten seconds flat . . . even on video chat).

A colossal thank you to these travel organizations: American Society of Travel Advisors , Association of Black Travel Professionals , CCRA , Destination Wedding Honeymoon Specialist Association , Ensemble Travel Group , Gifted Travel Network , Nexion Travel Group , Outside Agents , Royal Caribbean Cruise Line , Travel Quest Network , Travel Leaders Network , Travel Pulse , and Travel Research Online .

The Method to Our Madness

Overall, 1,098 advisors responded to our 2021 Travel Agent Survey.

This report profiles travel advisors of all types; hosted, independent, non-selling agency owners, and/or franchise owners. (This particular report does not include travel agent employees.) 1048 respondents met our criteria to be included in this particular report.

Is the concept of a host agency new to you? I highly recommend you check out this article, " What Is a Host Agency, " which will give you a foundation on what HAR is all about.

THE NITTY GRITTY

We know some of you may be seriously loving our data and looking for a few more details on the process.

Here's an overview of how we arrived at our numbers:

1. Respondent data is from 2020: HAR’s income survey was conducted between June 1st and July 31st of 2021. Travel agents used their annual 2020 income numbers to complete our survey.

2. Very few extreme outliers were removed. If you made $80,000,000 during a pandemic then #$%&! Go you. But for report purposes, we’ll go ahead and assume that’s an error.

3. We round to the nearest percent or dollar. What can I say? It's easier on the eyes when you're wading through so much data. (Sorry, decimal points. We still love you.)

• Source: HAR’s 2020 travel agent demographic report . ↩
• Advisors who reported selling travel as a primary source of income ↩
• The question did not specify if fees were charged pre and/or during COVID. ↩
• Source: HAR’s baseline used in “ Who’s Charging Fees? A 2020 Demographic Report ." ↩
• In 2021, HAR consolidated their travel agent fee report and travel agent income report into one larger report. Last year, HAR’s fee survey attracted a higher percentage of fee charges than compared to the income report: 42% of all advisors reported charging fees in HAR’s 2020 income report compared to 52% of all hosted agents in the fee report the same year. This suggests that HAR’s fee survey may be more likely to attract respondents who charge fees. ↩
• Source: CDC.gov via Way Back Time Machine ↩

About the Author

Mary Stein has been working as a writer and editor for Host Agency Reviews since 2016. She loves supporting travel advisors on their entrepreneurial journey and is inspired by their passion, tenacity, and creativity. Mary is also a mom, dog lover, fiction writer, hiker, and a Great British Bake Off superfan.

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10 Largest 2021 Travel Acquisitions Ripple Across Industry

Dennis Schaal , Skift

December 27th, 2021 at 2:30 AM EST

Big names drove many of the top 10 travel mergers of the year. But among the largest deals, aircraft lessors, rail manufacturers and an online travel agency used the pandemic to scoop up infrastructure and technology to shore up their positions.

Dennis Schaal

Pandemic opportunities fueled much of the mergers-and-acquisitions activity in travel this year, as buyers pounced on favorable valuations and sectors set for strong recoveries.

Among the top 10 deals were three that involved infrastructure or services for planes and trains, and the dealmakers were companies that your average traveler never heard of.

The biggest such deal saw Dublin-based AerCap, already the largest aircraft lessor in the world, acquiring a U.S.-based rival, GE Capital Aviation Services , for $30.7 billion in November. That deal, which saw GE grabbing $23 million in cash and a 46 percent stake in the merged companies in a bet on an aviation recovery, was roughly five times larger than the number two acquisition of the year.

In that second-biggest acquisition, France-headquartered Alstom bought UK-based Bombardier Transportation, a rail car manufacturer, in a $6.2 billion (euro 5.5 billion) deal that closed in January 2021.

lnterestingly, both sellers General Electric in the AerCap deal, and Bombardier, then-parent of Bombardier Transportation, in the transaction with Alstom, viewed the transactions as enabling them to return to their core businesses, an energy equipment and services provider for GE, and business jets for Bombardier.

The third infrastructure-services deal was the 10th biggest travel-related acquisition with Siemens Mobility acquiring rail software maker Squills for $650 million.

See the chart below to view the top 10 deals.

Hotels and real estate were in play as Blackstone and Starwood Capital executed the third largest travel-related acquisition of the year and took control of Extended Stay America for $6 billion. One might characterize Extended Stay America as a merger and acquisition football — When the deal closed in June, it was the third time Blackstone has been owner of Extended Stay America.

In another major hotel deal, the fifth largest travel acquisition of the year, Hyatt bought Apple Leisure Group for $2.7 billion in November, extending Chicago-based Hyatt’s reach further into Europe and the all-inclusive sector.

The fourth largest deal of the year had Certares, Knighthead and Apollo winning an auction to lead U.S.-based Hertz out of bankruptcy in a roughly $4.7 billion deal.

The sixth-largest travel acquistion announced or closed in 2021 was the only Asia entry with Tata Group intending to take Air India private for $2.4 billion.

It wasn’t a particularly active mergers and acquisitions year for online travel agencies, but one, Booking Holdings, announced late in the year two billion-dollar-plus acquisitions, Swedish flight-tech provider Etraveli Group for $1.8 billion (seventh-largest deal) and hotel wholesaler and distributor Getaroom for $1.2 billion (eighth largest).

Expedia Group was a seller. The online travel agency sold its once-rising star Egencia , the corporate travel agency, to American Express Global Business Travel for a 14 percent stake in the world’s largest travel management company, worth about $750 million, and a long-term hotel distribution deal. That was the ninth-largest travel acquisition of the year.

We didn’t consider special-purpose acquisition company deals in our top 10 because they are transactions executed by shell companies with no operations. If we had included them, then Altimeter Capital Growth 1’s merger with Singapore’s Grab, the ride sharing and food delivery superapp, would have been in the mix in a $4 billion transaction.

Travel’s 10 Biggest Merger and Acquisition Deals of 2021

Source: Skift, financial filings

The Daily Newsletter

Our daily coverage of the global travel industry. Written by editors and analysts from across Skift’s brands.

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Tags: Blackstone Group , booking holdings , corporate travel , expedia , extended stay america , grab , hotels , hyatt , online travel agencies

Photo credit: Pictured is an AerCap a320neo. The aircraft lessor participated in the largest travel acquisition of 2021.

• International

September 29, 2023 - Government shutdown nears as Congress continues negotiations

By Aditi Sangal , Elise Hammond , Matt Meyer , Adrienne Vogt and Tori B. Powell , CNN

How the shutdown could impact travel

From CNN's Betsy Klein and Tami Luhby

The White House  is sounding alarms  about massive disruptions to air travel as tens of thousands of air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration personnel work without pay.

During the 2019 shutdown, hundreds of TSA officers  called out from work  – many of them to find other ways to make money.

The White House warned that a shutdown could risk “significant delays for travelers” across the country.

“During an Extreme Republican Shutdown, more than 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 Transportation Security Officers – in addition to thousands of other Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) personnel – would have to show up to do their critical jobs without getting paid until funding becomes available,” a White House news release said. It added: “In previous shutdowns, this led to significant delays and longer wait times for travelers at airports across the country.”

The White House also noted that a shutdown “would halt air traffic controller training—potentially leading to long-term disruptions to the industry at a moment when we’ve seen critical progress filling a backlog of controllers.”

The release also offered a state-by-state breakdown of TSA officers and air traffic controllers to showcase some of the local impacts. Notably, Florida has 6,108 TSA officers and 1,157 air traffic controllers. California has 5,469 TSA officers and 1,418 air traffic controllers.

And some passport facilities could close in the event of a shutdown, the State Department’s 2022 guidance states.

Most national parks would close and annual Fat Bear Week canceled if government shuts down

From CNN's Betsy Klein

The National Park Service is warning that it will close most US national parks if Congress fails to come to an agreement to  avoid a government shutdown  this weekend, and a  popular social media campaign  celebrating fat bears will be canceled.

The parks will close as the agency applies lessons learned from previous shutdowns to its closure plans.

“In the event of a lapse in the annual government appropriations, National Park Service sites will be closed. The parks depend on Congress and appropriations to pay staff salaries and keep the parks running. This means that the majority of national parks will be closed completely to public access,” a senior administration official said.

Some national parks, like Washington, DC’s National Mall and San Francisco’s Gateway National Park, are clearly physically accessible to the public and will remain so, the official said, but “will face significantly reduced visitor service,” such as trash collection, restrooms and sanitation.

Elsewhere, visitors should expect locked gates, closed visitor centers, and no trail or road condition updates as thousands of park rangers will be furloughed, the official said, encouraging the public to not visit during a shutdown “out of consideration for protection and natural cultural resources, as well as visitor safety.”

A government shutdown could also halt the agency’s beloved social media postings, including one of the agency’s most anticipated and delightful events of the year:  Fat Bear Week , which is set to begin Wednesday. The annual tournament highlights bears at Katmai National Park in Alaska preparing for the winter season, with the public voting on the fattest bear.

“The bears will continue to get fat. We will not be able to report on their progress in that regard. All of our websites will be unavailable during any period of lapse and that is another unfortunate consequence of the shutdown. Fat Bear Week is one of the most popular programs from the NPS every year,” the senior official said.

“The bears are essential. Unfortunately, the folks monitoring the website aren’t exempted from appropriations,” the official added.

There will be some additional exceptions to park closures as some states work on their own to keep their treasures open.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein has died

From CNN's Lauren Fox, Manu Raju and Haley Talbot

Dianne Feinstein, whose three decades in the Senate made her the longest-serving female US senator in history, has died , according to a source familiar. She was 90.

Her death will hand California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom the power to appoint a lawmaker to serve out the rest of Feinstein's term, keeping the Democratic majority in the chamber through early January 2025. In March 2021, Newsom publicly said he had a list of "multiple" replacements and pledged to appoint a Black woman if Feinstein were to retire. 

Feinstein, a Democrat, was a fixture of California politics for decades and was first elected to the US Senate in 1992 after a historic political career in San Francisco.  

Feinstein broke a series of glass ceilings throughout her life, and left her fingerprints on some of Capitol Hill's most consequential works in recent history, including the since-lapsed federal assault weapons ban in 1994 and the 2014 CIA torture report.

In her later years, the California Democrat's health was the subject of increasing scrutiny and speculation. A hospitalization for shingles in February led to an extended absence from the Senate, stirring complaints from Democrats, as Feinstein's time away slowed the confirmation of Democratic-appointed judicial nominees.

When she returned to Capitol Hill three months later, it was revealed that she had suffered multiple complications during her recovery, including Ramsay Hunt syndrome and encephalitis. A fall in August briefly sent her to the hospital. 

In February 2023, she confirmed that she would not run for reelection, telling CNN, "The time has come."    

Feinstein's last vote in the Senate was Thursday morning — a procedural vote for short-term government funding. She did not vote during either afternoon vote.

Buttigieg says some effects of shutdown are not "easily reversible" for FAA

From CNN's Colin McCollough

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg warned that effects of a government shutdown to the Federal Aviation Administration will not be “easily reversible.” 

“Some of the funds that would be lost that would ordinarily come into our fund that we use for improving physical infrastructure at airports and making safety improvements – we don’t get that back,” Buttigieg said on MSNBC. 

The secretary said an immediate consequence of a shutdown would be that air traffic controllers would stop being paid.  

“I want people to think about the level of intensity that is associated with a job where you go into a tower or a facility and make sure that 60 million aircraft at the end of the day get to where they’re going safely. There’s a huge amount of tension in that job. And to come to that job with the added stress of coming from a household where your family doesn’t know where your next paycheck is coming from is unthinkable,” he said. 

Another immediate impact of the shutdown to air travel is that more air traffic controllers could not be brought on, according to Buttigieg. He said that after years of being in a shortfall, “we are finally getting in the right direction.” But that would stop, Buttigieg said, and trainees at the FAA Academy in Oklahoma would be sent home.   

Buttigieg placed the blame of a possible shutdown on “extreme Republicans.” He questioned why certain members of Congress are busy with an impeachment when “they don’t even know what for, they just want to have one. This is their idea of how to spend their time,” he said.

Government shutdown would further delay work authorizations for migrants, New York governor warns

 From CNN’s Sabrina Shulman and Polo Sandoval

If a government shutdown can't be avoided, Venezuelan asylum-seekers may have to wait longer for the highly anticipated work authorizations promised by the expansion of Temporary Protective Status from President Joe Biden's administration, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Thursday.

"It’s going to stop our ability to get people out of these shelters which is exactly what President Biden was trying to do when he granted TPS to Venezuelans,” Hochul told CNN's Brianna Keilar Thursday. "It's not going to be good for us.”

In the interview, the governor said the Biden Administration has recently sent up to 60 additional federal personnel to the New York offices of US Citizenship and Immigration Services to help expedite the expected flurry of applications for Temporary Protective Status.

A government shutdown would interfere with those efforts, Hochul said, further delaying working papers for an estimated 22,000 Venezuelan migrants in New York City who could be eligible to work legally as part of the benefit.

“Getting people out of the shelters is our number one priority. Full stop,” Hochul said. “We just need a slowing right now to help us manage the people who have already come and let people know it is not the way it was a year ago. We’re at capacity.”

Hochul applauded New York’s Department of Labor for making it easier for migrants to work so they aren’t such a strain on taxpayer funded housing or social services. 

“My department of labor stood up a portal so businesses can let us know what jobs they have available so we can match the skills,” she added. “We’ll have 15,000 people who can go to the 460,000 jobs I have open right now in New York, including 5,000 farm jobs.”

While certain Venezuelan migrants already benefit from Temporary Protected Status, Hochul noted that it would be helpful to have more people from other countries eligible to work sooner.

GOP leaders uncertain House can approve procedural vote to take up stopgap

From CNN's Manu Raju

House GOP leaders are uncertain they have the votes to win a key procedural vote this morning to take up Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s stopgap bill, according to two GOP sources.

That’s because all Democrats are expected to vote against the rule, and more than four conservative Republicans may vote against it over their opposition to McCarthy’s plans. The rule must be adopted to set the parameters for floor debate.

Typically, the majority party votes in lockstep to approve the rule, but hardliners in this Congress have repeatedly sank rules in order to gain leverage over McCarthy — and could do it again.

The vote is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. ET. If it’s adopted, the House will vote on final passage of the stopgap bill at 1:15 p.m. ET, though that vote is unlikely to succeed amid opposition from hardliners.

House anticipated to take up GOP stopgap bill as shutdown remains imminent

From CNN's Clare Foran, Haley Talbot and Kristin Wilson

The House is expected to take up a GOP stopgap bill to extend government funding on Friday – but House Speaker Kevin McCarthy appears to lack the votes to pass it and Congress is still on track to  trigger a government shutdown .

The Senate and House  are at an impasse  over how to keep the government operating, and a shutdown is now imminent with funding set to expire on September 30.

McCarthy is gearing up to have his chamber consider a GOP stopgap bill with border provisions attached as House Republican leaders have  insisted that border security must be addressed as part of the spending fight.

But if the bill comes to the House floor, it is likely to provoke a major confrontation between McCarthy and hardline conservatives who have railed against the prospect of a short-term funding extension, arguing that Congress should be focused instead on passing full-year spending bills.

As a shutdown looms, McCarthy faces the most significant challenge to his leadership as speaker to date as some House conservatives have threatened the possibility of a vote  to oust him from the position.

The speaker refused to say on Thursday whether he would try to cut a deal with Democrats if conservative hardliners bring down his stopgap measure.

“I still got time, I got time to do other things,” McCarthy responded when asked by CNN’s Manu Raju what will happen if the stopgap bill fails.

Pressed further on whether he has a plan B, McCarthy said, “In this job you got to have an ABCDEF and G,” and he laughed when asked what letter he was currently on.

“I haven’t spelled my name out completely,” the California Republican said.

White House sounds alarm on shutdown impact on small businesses

From CNN's Aileen Graef

The White House is continuing to sound the alarm on the impacts of the looming government shutdown, highlighting the impacts to small businesses across the country.

“An Extreme Republican Shutdown would force the Small Business Administration (SBA) to stop processing new business loans for small businesses. Each weekday the government is shut down, hundreds of small businesses would see their 7(a) and 504 loan applications fail to move forward. That means extreme House Republicans would deny more than $100 million in critical financing to American small businesses every day,” according to a White House news release.

The White House warned the delays “can have devastating consequences for small business owners and the communities they support, including losing the ability to purchase critical real estate or equipment, losing out on business deals and opportunities, and being forced into high-interest, price-gouging loans.”

Schumer: Senators expected to take a procedural vote on short-term spending bill Saturday morning

From CNN's Morgan Rimmer

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Thursday that senators should be prepared to take a procedural vote on their short-term spending bill on Saturday morning if they can't get a time agreement to speed the process along. 

Meanwhile, GOP Sen. Rand Paul is still vowing to slow down consideration of the bill.

Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle are hoping to pass a short-term funding extension to keep the lights on and avert the shutdown.

In the event of a shutdown, many government operations would come to a halt, but some services deemed “essential” would continue. The full effects wouldn’t be seen until the start of the work week on October 2.

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• Travel Agent

Updated as at 2 November 2022

Travel Agents Overview

The travel agents industry plays a vital role in making singapore an exciting destination for visitors and facilitating travel arrangements for travellers..

Today, there are over 1,000 travel agencies in Singapore, offering unique travel experiences for locals and visitors alike.

• STB works closely with industry stakeholders to develop capabilities, while maintaining a relevant licensing and regulatory environment. For more information on licensing matters, please visit the  Travel Agent Licence page .

Amendments to the Travel Agents Act and Travel Agents Regulations

The Travel Agents Act and Travel Agents Regulations have been amended to enhance consumer protection measures and better position the travel agent industry to grow and thrive in a rapidly evolving tourism landscape. The changes will take effect in phases from January 2018.

Click here to read the guide​  for more information on the amendments

Transition to Electronic Issuance of Travel Agent Licences

As part of STB’s efforts to go digital and streamline workflows, all TA Licences will be issued electronically via the Travel Agents and Tourist Guides Licensing System (TRUST) with effect from 15 September 2022. 

Travel agents will be able to access their licence via the TRUST portal after their licence applications or renewals are approved. Travel agents will be able to download the licence and self-print for display thereafter. Travel agents can look forward to reduced waiting times for licence issuance and receipt upon approval of licence applications or renewals.

The new licence design includes enhanced features like a QR code which will allow members of the public to check and verify the authenticity and validity of the licence in real time. This will provide greater assurance to members of the public when interacting with the travel agent.

All licences issued before 15 September 2022 remain valid and do not need to be converted.

The Travel Agents Regulations will currently remain unchanged. The transition to licence only involves changes to licence design and its mode of delivery. For the avoidance of doubt, travel agents are still required to display the licence.

Travel Agent Roadmap

Together with NATAS, STB launched the Travel Agent Roadmap in August 2016. ​

For more information on the Roadmap and other capability development collaterals, please visit the  Travel Agent Roadmap Resources page.  

Complete Guide

​destination singapore - the complete guide for ​travel agents.

​ Destination​ Singapore ​guide is your go-to resource on what Singapore has to offer.

​​ Download​​ ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ (29 MB)​​​​​​

Grants & Incentives

STB offers a number of grant schemes to assist stakeholders in the Travel Agents industry in enhancing their business competitiveness and growth. To find out more about these schemes, please click on the following hyperlinks:

• Tourism Product Development Fund
• Kickstart Fund
• Training Industry Professionals in Tourism
• Business Improvement Fund

Industry Statistics and Reports

• Monthly Visitor Arrivals
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Legislations

• Travel Agents Act
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Travel Agents ​Directory

• ​ Active Travel Agents
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Useful Links

• TRUST website
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• Practice Guides and Circulars 

Guidelines for Platform Operators on Requirement for Travel Agent and Tourist Guide Licences

Platform operators who intend to list services relating to tours, travel or guiding services should first conduct due diligence checks to ensure that the necessary Travel Agent and Tourist Guide licence requirements are met before deciding to publish the listing.

For more information on how to do so, please refer to STB's Guidelines for Platform Operators .

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) and Forms

• Applying for a travel agent licence ​​​​​​​​​​​​
• Travel Insurance against Insolvency Form for Travel Agent

Managing Tourists from China

Travel agents who wish to handle inbound tourists coming from China are required to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the National Association of Travel Agents Singapore (NATAS). All China outbound travel agents are required to work only with Singapore inbound travel agents who have signed the MOU, and only these Singapore travel agents will be allowed to apply for China Group Visas from the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority of Singapore (ICA).

To find out more about the MOU, please contact NATAS via  email​  or at 6534 0187.

Contact Information

For more information on the travel agents industry, please contact the Tour & Industry Development team at [email protected] .

For more information on licensing matters, please contact the Travel Agents Licensing team at  [email protected] .​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

About the Organisation

What industry does your organization fall within, what best describes the key intent of the project that your organisation is seeking funding for, is your organisation a singapore-registered legal entity, is your organisation an association, is the project able to achieve one or more of the following outcome.

• Increase no. of sailings to/from Singapore
• Increase no. of foreign cruise passengers to Singapore through sailings to/from Singapore
• Increase no. of pre/post nights for cruise passengers sailing to/from Singapore
• Increase capability of industry players via cruise-specific industry training programmes
• Strengthen the potential/ attractiveness of cruising in Singapore and/or Southeast Asia

Is the project able to achieve one or more of the following?

• Improve visitor satisfaction (especially foreign visitors)
• Increase footfall
• Increase revenue
• Significant branding and PR value

Is the project able to attract foreign visitors and contribute to foreign visitors' spend?

Who will be the main target audience of your project, is your project innovative and/or a new event in singapore with tourism potential, what best describes your project, does the event have proven track records in singapore or overseas, and/or growth in tourism value such as growing foreign visitorship, and/or enhancement of precinct vibrancy etc, does the project have a clear tourism focus (e.g. tourism-related trainings, tourism companies taking on capability development initiatives or technology companies creating technology products and services for the tourism businesses), what best describes your market feasibility study project.

Based on your selection, the following STB grant/s may be applicable for your project:

Please note that projects that have commenced prior to Singapore Tourism Board's offer may not be eligible for grant support. Examples where projects are deemed as having commenced include:

• Applicant has started work on the project e.g. tender has been called.
• Applicant has made payment(s) to any supplier, vendor or third party.
• Applicant has signed a contractual agreement with any supplier, vendor or third party.

Moscow partially shuts down as Russia sees record COVID cases

Moscow shuts down non-essential services for 11 days to fight the surge in COVID-19 infections.

Russia has reported record numbers of daily COVID-19 cases and deaths as Moscow shut down non-essential services for 11 days to fight the surge in infections.

The country hardest-hit in Europe by the pandemic, Russia has struggled with low vaccination rates despite developing several of its own jabs.

Keep reading

Nato agrees new plan to deter russian attacks, russian agency behind solarwinds still targeting us: microsoft, energy crunch: russia could reap windfalls as other nations reel.

Recent weeks have seen daily numbers of cases and deaths hit the highest of the pandemic, with the official government tally on Thursday reporting new records of 40,096 infections and 1,159 fatalities in the past 24 hours.

Authorities have shied away from the kind of severe lockdowns imposed in many countries, but have shut down all non-essential services in the capital, Moscow, from Thursday until November 7.

Retail outlets, restaurants, and sporting and entertainment venues are all closed, along with schools and kindergartens. Only shops selling food, medicine and other essentials are allowed to remain open.

Vaccinations lagging

President Vladimir Putin’s government has been pinning its hopes on homegrown vaccines like the Sputnik V jab, but Russians have proven stubbornly resistant to being inoculated.

As of Thursday, only 32 percent of Russia’s population had been fully vaccinated, according to the Gogov website, which tallies COVID-19 data.

Putin last week ordered a nationwide paid holiday between October 30 and November 7 in a bid to reverse rising infections, and Moscow authorities followed suit by ordering the shutdown of non-essential services in the capital from Thursday.

Roads in Moscow on Thursday morning were slightly less congested than usual, but the city’s sprawling Metro network was as busy as ever, with many passengers not wearing masks.

Authorities have not required Russians to stay at home during the non-working period and many were planning to use the days to travel across the country and abroad.

The mayor of the Black Sea resort city of Sochi has warned of a huge influx of tourists, and demand in Russia for flights bound for Turkey and Egypt has soared.

Downplaying pandemic

Russia has recorded totals of nearly 8.4 million cases and more than 235,000 deaths, though independent experts say authorities have downplayed the severity of the pandemic.

Figures published by statistics agency Rosstat in October suggest that more than 400,000 people have died in the country from the coronavirus.

After a severe months-long lockdown early in the pandemic, Russian authorities have been hesitant to impose further restrictions that would hurt the economy, instead urging Russians to get vaccinated.

Business travel survives the Zoom era, as leaders jump back on flights

It turns out that jet-setting on the company dime has eternal appeal. Business trips can conjure up images of fancy first-class tickets to major cities or staying at a Hilton in a small town about 20 minutes from the airport. Either way, it seems that the pandemic didn’t kill the corporate travel bug.

The brakes on business trips were first pulled when COVID-19 hit, as lockdowns and international travel restrictions were implemented. Zoom took off while planes stalled, as the video-conferencing company went from 10 million daily meeting participants in December 2019 to 300 million a few months later in April 2020.

As the lockdown lifted, some itched to vacation again (surging to the point that the term “revenge travel” was coined), but corporate travel was slow to get its feet off the ground. Its sluggish return made some question if business trips were at the end of an era. Perhaps Zoom and remote work meant that there was no longer a need to leave the house, much less the country, to really connect with others. 

“Businesses aren’t going to support nonessential travel if the work being proposed can be done virtually,” Brian Bloom, Korn Ferry’s vice president of global benefits and mobility operations, said in 2021 . And while bosses were looking to cut costs by eliminating travel, workers weren’t looking to risk their health either. In 2021, only one-quarter of those over 55 were comfortable traveling for work even after being vaccinated, according to an IBM survey of 15,000 global participants.

But years later, it seems as if corporate demand hasn’t died off, it just was dozing off for a bit. And the airlines confirmed as much. Alaska Air reported a return to pre-pandemic levels of business travel, as sales for corporate accounts soared by 22% in the first quarter. Delta and United each reported 14% increases in first-quarter revenue, with a United executive noting that the company notched nine of its top 10 corporate booking days in its history this year. That’s coming off of the rebound in 2023 , as air travel rose to 94% of 2019 levels, according to the International Air Transport Association.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that business travel isn’t still going through growing pains . A 2023 report from Deloitte found that while recovery is occurring, the trend “likely faces a limited upside” in part due to the cost of flying and sustainability mandates. 

Still, the return of corporate travel is occurring in the background of a years-long campaign to go back to pre-pandemic ways of work, as big names in tech and finance push for a fully in-person week. One of the major talking points for those that suggested back to office work was that it would create better connections , a similar talking point that crops up when it comes to the merits of traveling to meet with clients in-person. 

It seems as if the mindset is slowly gaining traction, as a 2023 study from Global Business Travel Association projected spending on business travel will surpass pre-pandemic levels of $1.4 trillion this year and balloon to nearly $1.8 trillion by 2027. After Omicron and other surges, global business travel began to find its footing again in 2022, according to the trade group.

“The headwinds that were anticipated to impact the rebound of global business travel over the past year didn’t materialize and that is good news,” Suzanne Neufang, Global Business Travel Associate’s CEO said in a statement last year to Fortune’s Chris Morris. “This latest forecast now indicates an accelerated return to pre-pandemic spending levels sooner than anticipated as well as growth ahead in the coming years.”

As the ever-looming recession remains unannounced and executives continue to extol the benefits of in-person work, the company card has started to thaw. It appears as if the floodgates, or air gates, are beginning to open up again.

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Amazon Prime Day 2024: Here's what to expect, tips, and tricks

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Amazon Prime Day has grown into one of the biggest sales events of the year, with discounts rivaling those of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. With so many retailers selling on Amazon, Prime members can save on just about anything, from viral beauty products to new unlocked smartphones.

The best Prime Day deals we saw last year included all-time lows on brands like Apple, Vitamix, iRobot, Dyson, Crocs, and, of course, Amazon-owned products like the Fire TV , Kindle e-reader , and Echo smart speakers . We expect to see more of the same this year as well.

It'll be the first major deal holiday of the year, so it's an awesome chance to score summer discounts on big-ticket items and household staples. The retailer's 10th Prime Day event has officially been announced to arrive in July, but the actual days are still unknown. In the meantime, we're keeping tabs on all of the latest Prime Day news, and we'll keep you updated with our findings here.

• Shop the latest deals at Amazon

When is Amazon Prime Day 2024?

Amazon Prime Day is officially coming this July, though the exact days have not yet been announced. In past years, it kicked off on the second Tuesday of the month. If Amazon follows the same trend, it will take place on July 9 and 10. We'll keep this story updated as more details are announced.

What is Amazon Prime Day?

Amazon Prime Day is the retailer's annual mega sale and one of the major benefits of Prime membership. It's a two-day sales event, usually during the summer, that features products from every category, from fashion staples to hot new tech. 

Though it used to be a deal holiday of a much smaller scale, Prime Day has grown exponentially since the first one in 2015. Now, you can find almost everything on sale for all-time low prices, matching discounts we see during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. 

What should I buy during Amazon Prime Day?

Everything is fair game to buy during Amazon Prime Day. Whether you've been holding out on a pricey new TV or just need to stock up on toiletries, Prime Day is a good time to make your move. 

Last year, we saw incredible prices on tech, including 4K TVs , Fire TV streaming devices , Apple products, Kindle e-readers , PC gaming accessories, Echo smart speakers , and top headphones picks. Prime Day tech deals featured brands like Logitech, Bose, Jabra, Sony, Roku, Samsung, TCL, and more. 

If you're looking for style and beauty deals during Prime Day, last year, brands like Tommy Hilfiger, Tatcha, Laneige, Levi's, Carhartt, Anastasia Beverly Hills, Adidas, and Marc Jacobs all featured products at rare low prices. That means skincare, makeup, shoes, men's clothing, women's fashion, and accessories will all be available for less. 

Home and kitchen products saw no shortage of Prime Day deals either, with big names like Dyson, Shark, iRobot, Philips, KitchenAid, Nespresso, Casper, Leesa, and OXO down to all-time lows for the event. So, whether you need an air fryer , robot vacuum , mattress , or just some sturdy mixing bowls, Prime Day is a good time to buy. 

You don't need to be focused on fancy new gadgets or treatments to shop smart during Amazon Prime Day either. We also catch tons of affordable household essentials available for even less every year, like toilet paper, dish soap, doggy bags, and makeup wipes. These deals are sweet, since they save you money on stuff you needed to buy anyway. 

How long do Prime Day deals last?

How long a Prime Day deal lasts differs between items, but in general, the best discounts will start during the event and end before the 48-hour holiday is over. Some will last the whole two days while others will only last one, so it's always wise to act on a good sale when you see it. Lightning deals especially go fast, the most popular of which dwindle away in less than an hour.

I always recommend buying a product you've had your eye on as soon as it's highlighted as a Prime Day deal. Regardless of how long it's set to last, oftentimes the best sales run out of stock, resulting in shipping dates being pushed out, or the deal no longer being offered at all. We'll be providing all of the deal context you need to shop confidently and quickly, so be sure to check our roundups of the best discounts when the event rolls around. 

Do you need to be a Prime member to shop Amazon Prime Day?

Amazon Prime Day is locked to Prime members only. It's one of the major benefits of subscribing to the service, in addition to other perks like free two-day shipping and Prime Video streaming. 

If you have yet to become a member, you can sign up for a free 30-day trial to test it out. Once the official Prime Day dates have been announced, you can even time your free period to overlap with the sale, but it's not a guarantee since sometimes retailers will lock out free members from shopping the best deals.

Do other stores participate in Prime Day?

Although Prime Day is an Amazon-specific event, it's grown so large that other major retailers have started kicking off competing sales to overlap with it. No one has announced a competing Prime Day sale just yet, but if past years are any indication, Walmart, Target, and Best Buy will likely be holding their own events.

These are definitely worth checking out; they often match the best deals on popular items you can find from Prime Day. We'll also be rounding these deals up so you can shop from the retailer that best suits you, whether you're a Target Circle cardholder, My Best Buy Plus member, or Walmart Plus subscriber. 

Is Prime Day an international event?

Prime Day occurs in several other countries, but not all of them. Here's a list of countries where Prime Day will be available to shop:

• Netherlands
• Saudi Arabia
• The United Arab Emirates
• The United States
• The United Kingdom

Want to see what Amazon has on sale right now? We've spotted some hefty price cuts on electronics, fashion, home, kitchen, laptops, and more on its main deals page .

• Main content

Moscow court shuts down Russia's Memorial Human Rights Center in escalating crackdown

A court on Wednesday ordered the closure of Russia ’s Memorial Human Rights Center, a day after its sister organization and the country’s oldest human rights group was ordered to disband by the Supreme Court.

State prosecutors had accused both organizations of breaking a law requiring them to act as “foreign agents.” Both said the charges against them were politically-motivated.

Prosecutors at Moscow City Court said Wednesday that Memorial Human Rights Center was conducting “non-transparent financial activity,” Russian state media agency Interfax reported , including inadequately reflecting its revenue and expenses. 

Prosecutors also said the organization concealed the receipt of foreign funding by not complying with the requirements of the law on labelling its materials as that of a “foreign agent." They said the organization's publications were also found to contain "signs of approval of extremism and terrorism," according to Interfax.

The center’s lawyer Maria Eismont has already told TASS state news agency they will appeal the decision.

International rights groups and the U.S. State Department strongly condemned Tuesday’s ruling against the center's sister organization Memorial International, Russia’s oldest and most prominent human rights group that chronicled the history of repression in the Soviet Union.

Memorial International said in a statement after the ruling it would appeal the verdict and find “legal ways” to continue its work.

The two court decisions cap off a year of unprecedented crackdown on dissent in Russia.

Memorial closures bookmarked a year in which Alexei Navalny , the Kremlin’s top critic, was jailed, his movement banned and many of his allies forced to flee.

Moscow says it is simply enforcing laws to thwart extremism and shield the country from what it says is malign foreign influence.

Critics say that Vladimir Putin , in power as president or prime minister since 1999, is turning back the clock to the Soviet era when there was zero tolerance of dissent, and the legal assault on Memorial is an attempt to whitewash Soviet Russia’s darkest chapters, which do not chime with the Kremlin’s narrative of a resurgent country with nothing to be ashamed of. 

Established in the final years of the Soviet Union , Memorial initially investigated the crimes of the Stalin era, but later broadened its remit to looked into modern-day abuses too.

That irked the authorities who sometimes accused the group of siding with extremists.

Are Airbnbs banned in Hawaii? New law seeks to cracks down on short-term rentals.

Airbnb listings and other short-term vacation rentals in Hawaii are one step closer to being phased out as the state grapples with a housing crisis exacerbated by last year’s wildfires on Maui.

A bill with the potential to reshape vacation rental regulation across the state passed the Senate and the House on Wednesday and now awaits Hawaii Gov. Josh Green’s signature – who already promised to sign it if it hits his desk. If signed, the new law will go into effect on January 1. 

SB2919 would grant each Hawaii county the authority to redefine zoning ordinances, including converting short-term rentals into long-term residential housing, in order to “guide the overall future development of the county.” Those who violate the law would be charged a fine of $10,000 per day.

Significant change won’t happen overnight, but it is the first major legislation regulating short-term vacation rentals statewide, according to Hawaii Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole, who introduced the bill. 

“It’s huge,” Keohokalole told USA TODAY. 

Learn more: Best travel insurance

The bill actually overturns a 1957 ordinance that drove Native Hawaiian communities from their homes and converted their land into sugar plantations. Many of the other zoning ordinances are outdated, Keohokalole said, and don’t reflect the influx of foreign investors or overtourism. 

Should I visit Maui now? Maui businesses ask for responsible tourists to help economy after fires

“We know the majority of STRs (short-term rentals) in Hawaii are illegal, owned by non-residents, and contribute to skyrocketing housing costs,” Gov. Green posted on X , formerly Twitter, last week. “We support Senate Bill 2919 to empower counties to regulate STRs and potentially phase them out.”

Housing affordability in Hawaii has worsened over the past two decades. A single-family home cost four times as much in 2023 than in 2000, and less than one-third of households can even afford the typical local home, according to the Hawaii Housing Factbook by the Economic Research Organization and the University of Hawaii. Rents also continue to rise, and Maui has the most expensive median rent in the state – a typical apartment is $2,500 a month. 

Part of that is due to the high percentage of short-term rentals in Hawaii’s housing stock. About 30,000 of Hawaii’s 557,000 total housing units, or 5.5%, are short-term rentals, compared to cities like Las Vegas, where only 3% are short-term rentals, the report said. It’s even worse in Maui, where vacation rentals account for 15% of the island’s total housing supply. 

August’s wildfires, which destroyed the majority of Lahaina and displaced thousands of West Maui residents, only amplified the housing crisis on Maui. “With Lahaina, we’re in an emergency situation,” Jordan Ruidas of Native Hawaiian-led community organization Lahaina Strong told USA TODAY. 

“The fire burned away the majority of our working-class housing,” she said. “We’re in shambles, and people are still waiting for long-term housing.” 

Ruidas said around 3,000 displaced residents are still living in hotels, over eight months since the fires ravaged West Maui. Some are leaving Hawaii entirely due to the lack of stable long-term housing. 

“What’s become clearer, at least in Lahaina and that outlying community, is that so much of the housing stock on that part of the island has been converted into vacation rentals that the survivors are struggling to find places to live,” said Keohokalole.

Maui County Mayor Bissen has said that he wants to “increase the inventory of available long-term units for people of Maui” and even proposed tax incentives for owners to convert their units into long-term housing in November.

“It’s not an inventory problem, it’s the fact that the inventory is being used for something that’s not helping the community,” said Ruidas. 

Kathleen Wong is a travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Hawaii. You can reach her at [email protected] .

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Russia Protesters Defy Vast Police Operation as Signs of Kremlin Anxiety Mount

Tens of thousands took to the streets across Russia to show support for the jailed opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny. The police were out in force and reports of brutality flared.

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By Anton Troianovski ,  Andrew E. Kramer ,  Ivan Nechepurenko and Andrew Higgins

MOSCOW — The Kremlin mounted Russia’s most fearsome nationwide police operation in recent memory on Sunday, seeking to overwhelm a protest movement backing the jailed opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny that swept across the country for a second weekend in a row.

But the show of force — including closed subway stations, thousands of arrests and often brutal tactics — failed to smother the unrest. People rallied for Mr. Navalny on the ice of a Pacific bay and in the thousands in cities from Siberia to the Ural Mountains to St. Petersburg. In Moscow, protesters evaded a warren of checkpoints and lines of riot police officers to march in a column toward the jail where Mr. Navalny is being held, chanting, “All for one and one for all!”

By late Sunday evening in Moscow, more than 5,000 people had been detained in at least 85 cities across Russia, an activist group reported, though many were later released. Previously unseen numbers of riot police officers in black helmets, camouflage and body armor essentially locked down the center of the metropolis of 13 million people, stopping passers-by miles from the protest to check their documents and ask what they were doing outside.

“I don’t understand what they’re afraid of,” a protester named Anastasia Kuzmina, a 25-year-old account manager at an advertising agency, said of the police. Referring to the peak year of Stalin’s mass repression, she added, “It’s like we’re slipping into 1937.”

The large-scale police response signaled anxiety in the Kremlin over Mr. Navalny’s ability to unite Russia’s disparate critics of President Vladimir V. Putin , from nationalists to liberals to many with no particular ideology at all.

Navalny Supporters Are Met With Heavy Police Force Across Russia

Tens of thousands of protesters rallied in russia for the second consecutive week, defying the kremlin in support of the jailed opposition leader aleksei a. navaly..

[crowd noise] [yelling] [speaking in Russian] [car horn] [speaking in Russian] [crowd noise] [sirens] [crowd noise] [speaking in Russian]

But the show of force also made it clear that Mr. Putin has no plans to back down. Shortly after the American secretary of state, Antony Blinken, condemned “the persistent use of harsh tactics against peaceful protesters and journalists,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry released a statement accusing the United States of backing the protests as part of a “strategy to contain Russia.”

The next test for both sides will come on Tuesday, when Mr. Navalny faces a court hearing over alleged parole violations related to a six-year-old embezzlement case that could send him to prison for several years. Mr. Navalny’s allies — some of whom helped steer the rallies from outside the country via Twitter, Telegram and YouTube — declared Sunday’s demonstrations a success and quickly called for more protests outside the courthouse on Tuesday.

“Russia’s citizens again showed their power and strength, and there’s no question that Putin understands this,” Leonid Volkov, a top aide to Mr. Navalny coordinating the protests from abroad, said Sunday in a live YouTube broadcast.

But the police sought to project their strength not only in numbers but also with more fear-inducing tactics. Video footage taken in Moscow and St. Petersburg showed people who did not appear to be resisting arrest screaming after the police used taser-like devices against them — weapons not reported to have been used at previous protests. There were also reports of tear gas having been used in St. Petersburg.

The crackdown on protesters showed that Mr. Putin — who has maintained a modicum of freedoms in the country, including an open internet and some independent news media — is ready to ratchet up authoritarianism in order to avert a possible threat to his power. The question is whether more Russians will actively resist such an authoritarian turn, especially as images of police brutality course through social media in the coming days.

“The bolts are tightening,” said Nikolai Babikov, 31, a computer systems analyst in Moscow, gazing apprehensively at the riot police and at the chunky gray police vans that hold detainees. “Freedom is being eliminated, and bit by bit we are becoming the Soviet Union again.”

Mr. Putin has faced growing discontent in the general public for several years amid a decline in real incomes and the dissipation of the patriotic fervor that accompanied his annexation of Crimea in 2014. Mr. Navalny has long been the Kremlin’s loudest critic, and he accused Mr. Putin of trying to kill him via a nerve-agent attack last summer.

Mr. Navalny put a match to that built-up discontent two weeks ago when he flew home to Moscow after five months of recovering in Germany from the poisoning, despite facing near-certain arrest upon arrival. Then, with Mr. Navalny in jail, his team released a two-hour-long video accusing Mr. Putin of having a secret palace built for him on the Black Sea.

The video was seen more than 100 million times on YouTube and energized the protests calling for Mr. Navalny’s release. On Sunday, footage from across the country showed some protesters brandishing toilet brushes and chanting, “Aqua disco” — references to an $850 toilet brush and elaborate fountain detailed in Mr. Navalny’s report.

The Kremlin has denied the report about the palace and scrambled to contain the public outrage over it. On Saturday, state television broadcast an interview with a friend of Mr. Putin, Arkady Rotenberg, who said he was in fact the owner of the property and was planning to turn it into a hotel.

“I am for honesty, nothing else,” said Lyudmila Mikhailovna, an 83-year-old retired pediatric doctor in Moscow who declined to give her last name.

She said she was no great fan of Mr. Navalny but had come out to protest after watching his video about the palace.

Sunday’s protests began around noon on Russia’s Pacific coast and rolled across the nation, with its 11 time zones, from east to west. In Vladivostok, a port city on the Sea of Japan, protesters avoided a city center blocked by riot police officers and descended onto the ice covering Amur Bay. Clasping hands, videos showed, they formed chains and danced as they chanted, “Putin is a thief!” and “Russia will be free!”

Riot officers, initially hesitant to follow on the frozen water, decided to give chase. But it seemed to be a slow-motion chase, with each side moving gingerly on the snow-covered expanse of ice under a gray late-afternoon sky.

It was just one of many remarkable scenes that played out on Sunday in eastern Russia, where large-scale protests are rare. In the Siberian city of Irkutsk, where temperatures approached minus 20 Fahrenheit, the turnout was significantly smaller than the thousands who protested last weekend — and the police presence even more imposing.

Aleksei Zhemchuzhnikov, a civic activist, said chains of riot police officers with full body armor and shields were deployed for the first time, cordoning off sections of the city center. Mobile internet access was cut off, he said.

“For Irkutsk, this was a first,” Mr. Zhemchuzhnikov said of the police response. “They were scared.”

Still, no signs have emerged of support for the protesters within the government, the Parliament, big business or the security services, which all remain firmly in Mr. Putin’s grasp. Fissions in the elite, nowhere to be seen at least on the surface in Russia, have been pivotal in the success of street movements in other former Soviet states.

In Moscow, Mr. Navalny’s team guided protesters on an evasive, zigzagging route to avoid police barricades. It encouraged them to stay together, in larger and harder-to-arrest crowds. Well before the protests began, the police sealed off much of the city center to pedestrians and shut down subway stops around the Kremlin — a crowd-control tactic used for the first time in recent years.

“Try not to leave the major streets and stay in large groups,” Mr. Navalny’s team instructed the protesters, using the messaging app Telegram. “Remember, the more of us there are, the more difficult it is for police to do anything.”

The mainly young protesters, following the Navalny social-media accounts on their phones, in many cases turned and followed the team’s directions — which led them toward the jail where Mr. Navalny was being held. The police, wielding shields and batons, tried to break the crowd into smaller groups and detain protesters after pushing them into walls and fences.

In chaotic scenes, police officers arrested people trying to hide in backyards and in the entryways to apartment buildings. By early evening, the Tass state news agency reported that the police were checking courtyards and apartment buildings for stragglers.

The harsher tactics were redolent of the protests in Belarus, where President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko used fierce police might to put down demonstrations after fraudulent elections last summer. The Russian police on Sunday did not use Mr. Lukashenko’s toughest methods — which included stun grenades and rubber bullets — but they seemed to echo his strategy of defusing dissent not by dialogue, but by brute force.

In St. Petersburg, a reporter for the newspaper Novaya Gazeta posted a video of police officers dragging an unconscious protester into a police van after a “harsh detention.” Reports of officers in plain clothes beating protesters surfaced in two provincial cities, Kursk and Volgograd.

On Moscow’s grand Garden Ring, the city center’s main circular thoroughfare, Lyudmila Mikhailovna, the retired pediatrician, glowered at the phalanx of burly officers in front of her.

She said that she had been going to protests since the Gorbachev era, but that, despite repeated disappointment, would continue to “so that my children and grandchildren don’t have to live in a greedy police state.” She added, “Things now are just intolerable.”

Oleg Matsnev and Sophia Kishkovsky contributed research.

Anton Troianovski is the Moscow bureau chief for The New York Times. He was previously Moscow bureau chief of The Washington Post and spent nine years with The Wall Street Journal in Berlin and New York. More about Anton Troianovski

Andrew E. Kramer is a reporter based in the Moscow bureau. He was part of a team that won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting for a series on Russia’s covert projection of power. More about Andrew E. Kramer

Ivan Nechepurenko has been a reporter with the Moscow bureau since 2015, covering politics, economics, sports, and culture in Russia and the former Soviet republics. He was born and raised in St. Petersburg, Russia. More about Ivan Nechepurenko

Andrew Higgins is the Moscow bureau chief. He was on the team awarded the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting, and led a team that won the same prize in 1999 while he was Moscow bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal. More about Andrew Higgins

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Executive summary

• Electric car sales
• Electric car availability and affordability
• Electric two- and three-wheelers
• Electric light commercial vehicles
• Electric truck and bus sales
• Electric heavy-duty vehicle model availability
• Charging for electric light-duty vehicles
• Charging for electric heavy-duty vehicles
• Battery supply and demand
• Battery prices
• Electric vehicle company strategy and market competition
• Electric vehicle and battery start-ups
• Vehicle outlook by mode
• Vehicle outlook by region
• The industry outlook
• Light-duty vehicle charging
• Heavy-duty vehicle charging
• Battery demand
• Electricity demand
• Oil displacement
• Well-to-wheel greenhouse gas emissions
• Lifecycle impacts of electric cars

Cite report

IEA (2024), Global EV Outlook 2024 , IEA, Paris https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2024, Licence: CC BY 4.0

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Growth in electric car sales remains robust as major markets progress and emerging economies ramp up.

Electric car sales keep rising and could reach around 17 million in 2024, accounting for more than one in five cars sold worldwide. Electric cars continue to make progress towards becoming a mass-market product in a larger number of countries. Tight margins, volatile battery metal prices, high inflation, and the phase-out of purchase incentives in some countries have sparked concerns about the industry’s pace of growth, but global sales data remain strong. In the first quarter of 2024, electric car sales grew by around 25% compared with the first quarter of 2023, similar to the year-on-year growth seen in the same period in 2022. In 2024, the market share of electric cars could reach up to 45% in China, 25% in Europe and over 11% in the United States, underpinned by competition among manufacturers, falling battery and car prices, and ongoing policy support.

Quarterly electric car sales by region, 2021-2024

Growth expectations for 2024 build on a record year: in 2023, global sales of electric cars neared 14 million, reaching 18% of all cars sold. This is up from 14% in 2022. Electric car sales in 2023 were 3.5 million higher than in 2022, a 35% year-on-year increase. This indicates robust growth even as many major markets enter a new phase, with uptake shifting from early adopters to the mass market. Over 250 000 electric cars were sold every week last year, more than the number sold in a year just a decade ago. Chinese carmakers produced more than half of all electric cars sold worldwide in 2023, despite accounting for just 10% of global sales of cars with internal combustion engines.

The pace at which electric car sales pick up in emerging and developing economies outside China will determine their global success. The vast majority of electric car sales in 2023 were in China (60%), Europe (25%) and the United States (10%). By comparison, these regions accounted for around 65% of total car sales worldwide, showing that sales of electric models remain more geographically concentrated than those of conventional ones. While electric car sales in emerging economies have been lagging those in the three big markets, growth picked up in 2023 in countries such as Viet Nam (around 15% of all cars sold) and Thailand (10%). In emerging economies with large car markets, shares are still relatively low, but several factors point to further growth. Policy measures such as purchase subsidies and incentives for electric vehicle (EV) and battery manufacturing are playing a key role. In India (where electric cars have a 2% market share), the Production Linked Incentives (PLI) Scheme is supporting domestic manufacturing. In Brazil (3% share), Indonesia, Malaysia (2% share each), and Thailand, cheaper models, mainly from Chinese brands, are underpinning uptake. In Mexico, EV supply chains are rapidly developing, stimulated by access to subsidies from the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

Policy support is boosting industry investment, building confidence that rapid electrification will continue

Every other car sold globally in 2035 is set to be electric based on today’s energy, climate and industrial policy settings , as reflected in the IEA’s Stated Policies Scenario. This has significant impacts on the car fleet. As soon as 2030, almost one in three cars on the roads in China is electric in this scenario, and almost one in five in both the United States and European Union. The rapid uptake of EVs of all types – cars, vans, trucks, buses and two/three-wheelers – avoids 6 million barrels per day (mb/d) of oil demand in the Stated Policies Scenario in 2030, and over 10 mb/d in 2035. This is equivalent to the amount of oil used for road transport in the United States today. Recent policy developments continue to reinforce expectations for swift electrification, such as new emissions standards adopted in Canada, the European Union and the United States over the past year. Industrial incentives – such as those in the US IRA, the EU Net Zero Industry Act, China’s 14th Five-Year Plan, and India’s PLI scheme – also encourage adding value and creating jobs across EV supply chains in those economies. If all the national energy and climate targets made by governments are met in full and on time, as in the Announced Pledges Scenario, two-thirds of all vehicles sold in 2035 could be electric, avoiding around 12 mb/d of oil.

Expectations of strong growth are bolstering investment in the EV supply chain. Recent reporting shows that from 2022 to 2023, investment announcements in EV and battery manufacturing totalled almost USD 500 billion, of which around 40% has been committed. Over 20 major car manufacturers, representing more than 90% of global car sales in 2023, have set electrification targets. Taking the targets of all the largest automakers together, more than 40 million electric cars could be sold in 2030, which would meet the level of deployment projected under today’s policy settings.

Enough battery manufacturing capacity has reached a final investment decision to deliver on announced pledges from automakers and governments globally. Thanks to high levels of investment in the past 5 years, global EV battery manufacturing capacity far exceeded demand in 2023, at around 2.2 terawatt-hours and 750 gigawatt-hours, respectively. Demand is likely to grow quickly: up seven times by 2035 compared with 2023 in the Stated Policies Scenario, nine times in the Announced Pledges Scenario, and 12 times in the Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario, which lays out a pathway to reach net zero energy sector emissions by mid-century. Manufacturing capacity appears capable of keeping pace with demand: committed and existing battery manufacturing capacity alone are practically aligned with the needs in a net zero pathway in 2030. Such prospects are opening significant opportunities across the supply chain for battery and mining companies, including in emerging markets outside China, although surplus capacity has been hurting margins and may lead to further market consolidation.

The pace of the transition to electric vehicles hinges on their affordability

Electric cars are getting cheaper as competition intensifies, particularly in China, but they remain more expensive than cars with internal combustion engines in other markets. A rapid transition to EVs will require bringing to market more affordable models. In China, we estimate that more than 60% of electric cars sold in 2023 were already cheaper than their average combustion engine equivalent. However, electric cars remain 10% to 50% more expensive than combustion engine equivalents in Europe and the United States, depending on the country and car segment. In 2023, two-thirds of available electric models globally were large cars, pick-up trucks or sports utility vehicles, pushing up average prices. When exactly price parity is reached is subject to a range of market variables, but current trends suggest that it could be reached by 2030 in major EV markets outside China for most models.

Price gap between the sales-weighted average price of conventional and electric cars in selected countries, before subsidy, by size, in 2018 and 2022

The pricing strategies of car manufacturers will be crucial for improving affordability, as will the pace of EV battery price decline. Turmoil in battery metal markets in 2022 led to the first price increase for lithium-ion packs, which became 7% more expensive than in 2021. In 2023, however, the prices of the key metals used to make batteries dropped, leading to a near-14% fall in pack prices year-on-year. China still supplies the cheapest batteries, but prices across regions are converging as batteries become a globalised commodity. Lithium-iron-phosphate batteries – which are significantly cheaper than those based on lithium, nickel, manganese and cobalt oxide – accounted for over 40% of global EV sales by capacity in 2023, more than double their share in 2020. Looking ahead, technological innovation will remain important for scaling up novel designs and chemistries such as sodium-ion batteries, which could cost as much as 20% less than lithium-based batteries without requiring any lithium.

In developing economies outside China, more affordable electric car models are arriving, and the future of electric two- and three-wheelers already looks bright. In 2023, 55% to 95% of the electric car sales across major emerging and developing economies were large models that are unaffordable for the average consumer, hindering mass-market uptake. However, smaller and much more affordable models launched in 2022 and 2023 have quickly become bestsellers, especially those by Chinese carmakers expanding overseas. Affordable electric two- and three-wheelers are also already available, helping deliver immediate benefits such as improved air quality and emissions reductions. Around 1.3 million electric two-wheelers were sold in India and Southeast Asia in 2023, accounting for 5% and 3% of total sales, respectively. One in five three-wheelers sold globally in 2023 was electric, and nearly 60% of those sold in India, boosted by the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME II) subsidy scheme.

As electric vehicle markets mature, second-hand electric cars will become more widely available . In 2023, the market size for used electric cars was around 800 000 in China, 400 000 in the United States, and over 450 000 across France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The prices of used electric cars are falling quickly and becoming competitive with combustion engine equivalents. Looking ahead, international trade of used electric cars is also expected to increase, including to emerging and developing economies outside of China.

The battery recycling industry is getting ready for the 2030s. Recycling and reuse are needed for supply chain sustainability and security. Many technology developers are seeking to position themselves in EV end-of-life markets, but planned locations do not always align with where EV retirement may occur. Global battery recycling capacity reached 300 gigawatt-hours in 2023. If all announced projects materialise, it could exceed 1 500 gigawatt-hours in 2030, of which 70% would be in China. Globally, announced recycling capacity is more than three times the supply of batteries that could potentially be recycled in 2030, as EVs reach their end of life in the Announced Pledges Scenario. However, EV battery retirement is expected to grow rapidly from the second half of the 2030s.

The roll-out of public charging needs to keep pace with EV sales

The global number of installed public charging points was up 40% in 2023 relative to 2022, and growth for fast chargers outpaced that of slower ones . In major EV markets, the deployment of charging points is continuing apace thanks to targeted policies. Broad, affordable access to public charging infrastructure will be needed for a mass-market switch to electric transport and to enable longer journeys – even if most charging continues to take place privately in residential and workplace settings. To reach EV deployment levels in the Announced Policies Scenario, public charging needs to increase sixfold by 2035.

As more electric heavy-duty vehicles such as trucks and large buses hit the road, dedicated and flexible charging is needed. In 2023, electric buses accounted for 3% of total bus sales. Electric truck sales jumped 35% compared with 2022, accounting for about 3% of truck sales in China and 1.5% in Europe. Under today’s policy settings, the stock of electric buses increases sevenfold by 2035 and that of electric trucks around thirtyfold, supported by tougher emissions standards in the United States and European Union. This level of deployment could require a twentyfold jump in charging capacity by 2035 – not only in depots, but also along main transit routes to enable long-distance trucking. Increasing heavy-duty charging has important implications for expanding and operating electrical grids, with opportunities for greater flexibility and renewables integration. Policy support, careful planning and co-ordination will be essential to ensure a secure, affordable and low-emissions supply of electricity with limited strain on local grids.

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