With a series of unfortunate events that ranged from the Mers outbreak in South Korea to the terror attacks in Paris, the travel industry was seemingly rocked by uncertainty this year. But industry insiders predict that travellers will unlikely be fazed in the long run.

“Generally, after such incidents, we see a slight drop in travellers visiting these locations. However, it bounces back quite quickly, most of the time within weeks,” revealed Katherine Cole, regional director (Singapore, Australia, New Zealand) at Hotels.com.

In 2016, pent-up demand — especially after such incidents put plans temporarily on hold — would likely see Singaporean travellers heading back to these places, said Jane Chang, head of marketing communications at Chan Brothers Travel. “Singaporeans are still avid travellers and travelling remains a national hobby,” she said. 

“According to the latest Nielsen Global Survey of Consumer Confidence and Spending in November 2015, the strengthened confidence in spending for Singaporean consumers bodes well for the travel industry. We are conservatively optimistic of a better year.” 

The sense of optimism is literally in the air. Due to a healthy demand for travel and low oil prices, global air travel demand in 2016 is set to increase by 6.9 per cent to 3.8 billion passengers, according to the International Air Transport Association. 

The hotel scene has also ramped up its efforts to accommodate this surge with a series of high profile moves: Starwood launched its brand of independent hotels under the Tribute portfolio in April, before the Marriott group announced it was buying over Starwood. French hospitality conglomerate Accor moved in to purchase FHRI, which owns the Fairmont, Raffles and Swissotel chains; and travel site Expedia closed the year by acquiring vacation rental site HomeAway. 

In Bali, at least six hotels — Mandarin Oriental Bali, Ibis Style Bali Petitenge, Hotel Indigo Bali, Yoo Design Hotel, Katamama and Meritus Bali Seminyak Resort and Spa — are slated to open next year. 

But as busy as the hotel industry is, it would be hard-pressed to catch up with Airbnb. The home rental site registered nearly 17 million guests staying at its properties worldwide. A Barclay’s research report released this year projected that Airbnb’s bookings could triple next year, and the room-sharing platform could boast 129 million room-nights by the end of 2016.