Travelers Should Expect to Pay Premium Prices this Summer
For the better part of the last two years, people held off on vacations to those far-away destinations.
But if you talk to travel experts, they anticipate this summer to be the busiest travel season since the onset of the pandemic.
“Travel has really rebounded in the last several months,” said Ted Blank, a travel advisor from Travel Leaders in Maple Grove. “I would say we’re back to 90, 95 percent of where we were in 2019.”
As for where people are traveling to, Blank says anywhere and everywhere.
“A lot of people are still catching up with family and friends who they maybe haven’t seen in a couple years, and so pretty much travel everywhere has really come back,” Blank said.
However, the return of the travel industry comes with one big caveat — prices are sky high.
Travel experts say if you’re thinking of going on a spring break trip next year, you should start planning it now.
Say goodbye to deals
“Yeah, I would banish the word ‘cheap’ and I would banish the word ‘deal’ from your vocabulary for a while,” Blank said. “We’re not going to see that.”
What he’s seeing right now are premium prices for flights, hotels, and rental cars; all thanks to inflation and the ongoing labor shortage.
“Hotels can’t staff fully, and so capacity is constrained,” Blank said. “Airlines can’t hire enough pilots. They can’t hire enough flight attendants. They can’t hire enough cleaners. They can’t hire enough people to work at the gates. And so all of that has reduced capacity, pretty significantly, across the board.”
The best bet for anyone worried about cost is to start looking long term.
Blank says if you’re thinking of going on a spring break trip next year, you need to start planning that now.
“Those are the ones who are gonna get the best prices and have the best selection,” Blank said of the people planning their spring break trips right now. “Because if you wait until Labor Day, or if you wait until Christmas, if you wait until February, the pickings are going to be pretty slim.”
Consider it a word of warning.
For now, Blank says people are tolerating the higher prices.
“I think people have bucket lists,” Blank said. “You know, imagine if you’re in your 70s. Well, you lost three or four years of good travel time in there, and so people want to get those things checked off their bucket list before it’s too late.”
Meanwhile, there is one other piece of advice for anyone looking to save a few bucks: be flexible with your travel plans. That could mean booking a flight at a less than idea hour, or consider changing your hotel mid-vacation.
See also: Prepare for a Travel Boom: ‘People Are Ready to Go’
