by Mia Taylor
Last updated: 4:00 PM ET, Wed March 20, 2024
The flurry of travel industry reports that have been declaring seasonal travel a thing of the past in a post-COVID world may need to press the pause button.
A new report from Skyscanner that delves into booking trends says there appears to be a return to “traditional seasonality in 2024.”
That’s just one of the key takeaways from the annual Horizon report produced by Skyscanner. Here are some of the additional highlights and top line revelations from the report.
Longer booking windows reflect traveler confidence
It seems at least some consumers are planning their ravels further ahead compared to 2023, which Skyscanner says is an indication of traveler confidence.
Among travelers from Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) "there's a +1% rise in the longest booking windows of 60-89 and 90+ days, with 90+ days making up 37% of demand," says the report.
Based on the Skyscanner research, however, Americans do not have quite the same confidence about travel this year it seems.
"Fewer travelers from the Americas are booking travel earlier compared to this time last year," says the report. "There's a +3% growth in windows of 90 days, with small declines in the mid-length windows of 30-59 days and 14-29 days. 90+ days represents a third of demand."
European travelers choose their own back yard
About 53 percent of EMEA consumers are opting to explore Europe when traveling - in other words, staying closer to home.
That’s a 4 percent increase from the previous year, says Skyscanner.
APAC (or Asia Pacific) travelers meanwhile, are also focused on more local or regional trips. This demographic also shows a marked decrease in European travel
compared to one year earlier.
Goodbye slow-cations and extended
getaways
The Skyscanner report also reveals that average trip durations
are slightly down or “flat year-on-year.”
This is a departure from
trend reports that indicated travelers were spending more time in
destinations and seeking a slower pace.
2024's hotspots
The most popular destinations for the year
ahead are also identified by the Skyscanner report. The data crunchers at Skyscanner came up with their list based on search trends for June through August 2024 (the
summer months in the northern hemisphere and the winter months in the
southern hemisphere), which were then compared to 2023 trends.
Americans
are nothing if not creatures of habit. Europe for June through August
remains quite popular, thought it is down 1 percent from 2023. Meanwhile, South
America is growing in popularity among American travelers. The destination has experienced a 3 percent uptick in search volume.
North Asia is also up, about 2 percent, and Southeast Asia is up 1
percent.
“The shift in destination mix to South America is likely due
to its increasing popularity among US and Canadian travelers, as well
as the availability of more affordable flights,” says the report.
Some of the specific destinations that are attracting the interest of American travelers include: San Carlos de Bariloche, Tokyo, Madrid and Orlando are
trending, as well as Medellin, Colombia; Santo Domingo, Dominican
Republic; Ushuaia, Argentina; Porto Seguro, Brazil; Santiago, Chile; and
Tunis, Tunisia.
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