The travel & tourism sector witnessed a notable decline in deal activity in the first half (H1) of 2025, reflecting a shift in market dynamics and investor sentiment. The total number of deals (mergers & acquisitions (M&A), private equity and venture financing) announced year-on-year (YoY) fell by around 8% in H1 2025, reveals GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

An analysis of GlobalData’s Deals Database revealed that all the deal types under coverage registered decline. The number of venture financing and private equity deals registered YoY decline of around 25% and 20%, respectively, during H1 2025 while M&A activity exhibited relative resilience, with a slight contraction of 3.5% in deal volume.

The overall decline underscores a broader trend where macroeconomic factors and investor sentiments are reshaping deal-making strategies within the industry. The subdued activity suggests that dealmakers are becoming increasingly cautious likely due to the macroeconomic challenges and volatile market conditions. The decline in venture financing and private equity deals, suggests a dent in investor sentiment, emphasizing a trend of reduced risk appetite. Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData

The Asia-Pacific market emerged as a bright spot, witnessing an increase of around 11% in deal volume in H1 2025. This growth can be attributed to countries like Japan and India showing improvement in deal activity.

Conversely, other regions witnessed decline in deal activity. Europe, North America, Middle East and Africa, and South and Central America registered decline of around 19%, 10%, 39% and 12% in their respective deal volumes during H1 2025 compared to H1 2024.

The US, China and Germany saw YoY decline in the number of deal announcements in H1 2025 while the UK managed to maintain the deal volume mostly at the same level.

Note: Historic data may change in case some deals get added to previous months because of a delay in disclosure of information in the public domain.

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