Americans still considering an escape to Europe this summer should expect “incredibly high” prices, one economist says.
“Travelers who haven’t booked their summer trips to Europe aren’t going to want to hear this… If you’re booking a European vacation now, you are definitely paying a premium for your procrastination,” Hopper Lead Economist Hayley Berg told Yahoo Finance Live (video above).
That could be tough news to hear for many of the 89% of users that Hopper says are planning to travel internationally this summer, with Europe as the top “bucket list” destination. The average plane ticket to Europe costs $1,196 this summer – up approximately $500 from 2021 and the priciest since 2018.
“Americans are biting the blood on those airfares,” Berg said. “We’re seeing incredible demand throughout the end of the summer.”
The astronomical prices could leave iconic destinations like Rome, London, and Paris out of the question for many travelers – who should consider going off the beaten path if they still want to live like a European this summer. Portugal, an increasingly popular country for tourism, is Berg’s favorite pick, with flights from the East Coast to Porto, a top city, averaging less than $1,000 from several origins, she said.
Berg added that Portugal is also cheaper to travel within compared to other locations. She estimated that it should stay that way for the next year and a half, after which it could become more costly like other trendy places like Croatia and Iceland, where low cost carriers could only keep prices down for so long. Tourism in Portugal is already on a yearslong growth streak.
“What we’re seeing to Portugal, in particular, is many low cost carriers are now flying in and out of Lisbon and Porto,” she said. “That’s keeping prices down, even as the popularity balloons.”
If Portugal isn’t on Americans’ bucket list this summer and they still want to travel to Europe at a discount, they should consider traveling in early fall and planning their travel three to four months in advance to score the lowest prices, Berg said.
“That’s why now is the best time to be booking fall trips,” she said. “September and October prices are super low. They will start rising.”
While corporate travel is not fully recovered, the strong demand for travel is one of the stronger parts of the economy. Berg said Hopper has observed an increasing tendency for consumers to plan their trips quickly, spend more than previously, and take an additional trip each year – all while continuing to seek the best deals.
“[W]e do see price sensitivity, deal-seeking behavior,” she said, “but it doesn’t seem to be slowing down demand. Instead, it seems to be accelerating the ability to go on vacation as these travelers try to tack more days on to trips or slip in an extra domestic trip in the year.”
Jared Mitovich is a writer at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @jmitovich
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