Travelers seeking revenge after the pandemic disrupted plans for nearly two years have already rescheduled and gone on those trips, but are now looking to venture to their next destination, according to travel experts.
After two years of travelers making up for lost time during the pandemic, leisure travel in the United States has finally reached a “new normal” and travelers are looking to go to new places. The days of revenge travel, or traveling because lockdowns and pandemic restrictions have canceled plans in 2020, are over – at least that’s what travel experts say.
In turn, travelers to the United States will see airfares similar to or even less than what they paid in 2019.
Workplace flexibility allows for leisure travel, thus reducing revenge travel and continuing demand. He said there is always a great desire to get out and experience a new place, said Matt Soderberg, head of the US airline practice at Deloitte.
“It’s not just, ‘Hey, I want to go and book a trip at a hotel,'” he said. “They’re also looking for excursions and experiences during the trip.”
By 2021, half of summer travelers will be looking to “get away after the lockdown,” according to Deloitte’s latest travel industry outlook. That continued into 2022 and into early 2023, but declined by the 2023 holiday season, as 11% of people said they were taking trips.
Despite this, travel remains hotter than ever in view of the year.
Hayley Berg, senior economist at US travel app Hopper, said airfares will be very similar to what was available before the pandemic. Internationally, in regions where capacity is fully restored, such as Europe, Mexico and Central America, prices will remain the same until there are significant changes. Those changes could be pre-pandemic changes that airlines are monitoring, increased competition, lower fuel costs, new market entrants or an expanding airline service.
“For Europe, for example, depending on where you go, plane prices are a bit high in most major cities like London, Paris, Rome, Athens… you’ll see the prices of the ‘planes that are probably still above the levels of 2019. , but far from those incredible heights that we have seen the last two years, “said Berg.
“Asia remains the exception… These are routes – Trans-Pacific – that are still recovering capacity in parts of Asia, so prices remain very inflated compared to pre-pandemic”.
Demand for international travel remains high, Berg said. Last year, travelers flocked to destinations around the world, despite higher airfares and higher hospitality costs. According to the Transport Statistics Bureau, the national average for domestic air fare was US$367.79 (RM1,724.40) in the third quarter of last year. For that same quarter of 2019, the average was $345.09 (RM1,67.95).
“Demand remains strong, and we’ve seen robust bookings to start the year as travel trends begin to normalize across all entities (in the United States),” said Robert Isom, CEO of American Airlines in l ‘last earnings call of the air carrier.
In 2023, the airline and its regional partners flew almost two million flights, with an average load factor of 83.5%, producing a historical fourth quarter “the best” and a fulfillment factor of whole year The company also reported the lowest number of cancellations annually since the merger with US Airways in 2013.
Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan shared the same sentiment in the US carrier’s latest earnings call, saying the airline is pleased with “core demand” for its product.
“We saw a near-reinforced performance in November and December for leisure and business travel,” Jordan told investors. “This led to the fourth quarter of 2023 being another record at just over US$6.8 billion (RM31.9 billion) in operating income, and we see that strength continuing into 2024.”
On the other hand, most employers have dramatically changed post-pandemic workplaces with remote and hybrid offices here to say, according to Deloitte. Soderberg called them “laptop luggers” who take work with them for these holidays or other excursions during the year. According to a report by Gallup, in 2019, 60% of remote employees spent their week working in person. This number will drop to 20% in 2023.
All the while, corporate travel continues to rebound, but earnings are decelerating, Deloitte said.
However, US corporate travel spending is likely to surpass pre-pandemic levels in the coming year. According to the Global Business Travel Association’s Business Travel Index report released last summer, spending will accelerate to US$1.8 trillion (RM8.44 trillion) for the 2027.
American Airlines remains “very encouraged” by business travel, Isom told investors. Domestic revenue from business travel ended the fourth quarter at 90% of 2019 levels, the airline said.
In March, “Spring Break” will be a focal point for air carriers in the United States. According to Hopper, 90% of those traveling this spring say that price and accessibility are at the top. Berg said that 83% of travelers who take a spring break travel plan to fly to their destination.
Soderberg said that this year will depend on “how the economy plays out” – whether travelers can still afford to take big trips.
Domestic travel is back to pre-pandemic levels in the United States, and slightly below in some cases.
“I think there’s a little bit of a new normal and I think the data is starting to show what that new normal is going to be,” Soderberg said. -Tribune News Service
