What were the favorite destinations of travelers this year? Where did the foreign tourists come from?
A newly released research of mobile data consumption by the travelers identifies the major trends in the tourist market for the summer 2022 by studying prepaid data plans for more than 190 destinations.
The overall consumption of mobile internet by users of prepaid data plans tripled during the summer of 2022 compared to the summer of 2021.
This trend reflects a strong development of international tourism with the global lifting of restrictions due to COVID-19, the gradual generalization of the eSIM (virtual SIM card) in mobile devices, and the increasingly essential use of mobile Internet for travelers.
The volume of data consumed in France has been multiplied by 5 compared to 2021, which places it at the very top of the podium, with 17% of total traffic generated between July and August, thus confirming France’s place in the world tourism.
29% of foreign tourists in France this summer were either Americans or Canadians, ahead of the Japanese (8%), the Swiss (7%) and the British (4%).
Key figures for France
July/August 2022 data
Data consumption of eSIM plans taken out by French prepaid data plans subscribers:
● 63% of mobile data was used on national territory.
● 7% in the United States.
● 5% in Japan.
● 5.1GB of average data consumption per French user (vs. 3.8GB of average consumption per user on an international scale).
Data consumption by foreign tourists in France – number one tourism destination:
● 29% of prepaid mobile data consumption in France was made by North Americans (United States and Canada) and 8% was made by Japanese.
By quadrupling the amount of mobile data consumed on its territory in July and August 2022 compared to the same period last year, Switzerland is positioned much higher in the ranking than in 2021.
Switzerland now represents 12% of total traffic and occupies the 2nd position in terms of data consumption, ahead of the United Kingdom (9%) and Italy (9%). These two destinations had been less popular in 2021 due to COVID-19 restrictions.
While the United States continues to be an attractive destination (7%), Japan is back in the Top 10 of the most popular destinations despite the restrictions still in place.
International tourists who have visited Japan are Americans (23% of total mobile data consumption in Japan), followed by the British (9%), French (6%), Canadians and Singaporeans (4%).
First consumers of mobile data (of which 76% used abroad), Americans mainly choose Europe (49%) and particularly France (14%), the United Kingdom (10%) and Italy (9%). We also observe that American tourists almost always represent the largest proportion of foreign tourists who have visited a country.
In addition, the Japanese have also consumed their mobile data plans for the most part abroad. This marks the return of Japanese travelers to world tourism after two years of decline due to health restrictions.
More precisely, 45% of the total consumption of mobile data by the Japanese was carried out in Europe: 12% in France, 9% in Italy, 7% in the United Kingdom, 5% in Switzerland and Germany in particular.
On the other hand, the mobile data consumption of the Emiratis is in very sharp decline, as well as that of the Russians (due to the sanctions imposed on Russia over its brutal invasion of Ukraine) compared to last summer.
Global travel trends
July/August 2022 data
● The United States remains the main market for the travel industry: American travelers often represent the largest proportion of foreign tourists in top destinations (benefiting from a strong dollar against the euro).
● France remains the favorite destination for tourists: 17% of mobile data traffic, all countries combined, was generated in France over the period.
● Japanese, Italian, Canadian and Australian tourists are back, and their numbers are increasing year by year.
● A gradual return to travel to Asia is beginning. With Japan in the front line: mobile data traffic there has increased sixfold between 2021 and 2022, despite restrictions still in place.
● Domestic travel remains predominant in many countries: France, United States, Italy, etc.
● The average global mobile data consumption per user increased by 19% between summer 2021 and summer 2022, reaching 3.8GB per user.
