Wanna get away?
Photographer: Sean Gallup/Getty ImagesOctober 1, 2022, 12:00 PM UTC
As the pound and euro struggle relative to the dollar, opportunistic US travelers might be wondering if it’s time to book an international trip, and maybe even prepay for the hotel. Who wouldn’t love a travel deal — especially after paying through the nose this past summer?
But don't think there are bargain-basement prices everywhere in the UK and Europe. Sure, the dollar may get you 20% more when dining or shopping, but in-demand hotels are still expensive. For example, high-end accommodations in places such as Paris and Capri have increased their rates by as much as 40% and are likely to keep them there, according to Melissa Biggs Bradley, founder of luxury travel agency Indagare.
Boeing 777ER United Airlines. Aircraft to Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci Airport.
Massimo Insabato | Mondadori Portfolio | Getty Images
United Airlines is planning another big schedule increase for trans-Atlantic travel, in a bet that consumers will continue to shell out for international trips, some of which they had put off for years.
Next summer, United says it will fly to 37 cities in Europe, Africa, India and the Middle East, a total it said is more than other U.S. airlines combined. It will also bring back destinations including a nonstop flight from its Newark Liberty International Airport hub in New Jersey and Stockholm on a Boeing 757 on May 27. It last served that city in 2019.
Airline executives have recently reported a strong summer for European travel in particular. United said demand was up 20% from 2019 during the summer peak. Ticket sales have been robust into the fall, prompting some carriers to maintain more off-peak flights to chase that revenue.
Despite strong demand and revenue from high fares, airlines were hamstrung by a series of challenges this summer such as aircraft delivery delays and shortages, and chaos from staffing shortages at major European hubs like those in London and Amsterdam, which prompted airlines to curb capacity.
"This is a schedule we believe we can operate," Patrick Quayle, United's senior vice president of global network planning and alliances, told reporters. He said the carrier is working closely with airports and other industry members to ensure it isn't overshooting.
Quayle estimated United's trans-Atlantic schedule during the peak summer period next year will be 30% larger than in 2019 and about 10% bigger than in 2022.
Inflation, a slower rebound in business travel and other issues still loom over demand for 2023. London's Heathrow Airport warned Tuesday that travel demand is "uncertain."
When demand was weaker in the Covid pandemic, United experimented with its route map, offering destinations such as Palma de Mallorca in Spain and Ponta Delgada in Portugal's Azores. Those flights are returning though service to Bergen, Norway, didn't make the cut for 2023.
United said Wednesday it will start flights on May 25 between San Francisco and Rome on a 777-200ER, part of the carrier's big investment in service to Italy. On the same day, it will start seasonal service to Shannon, Ireland, from Chicago O'Hare International Airport on a Boeing 757 and daily flights to Barcelona, Spain, from Chicago on a 787 Dreamliner.
It will also offer flights from Washington Dulles International Airport to Berlin on a Boeing 767, starting May 25. The carrier plans to fly 23 daily flights to London Heathrow next summer.
On March 25, United will start service between Newark and Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on a Boeing 777-200ER, flights it announced last month under a new partnership with Emirates.
Delta Air Lines is also ramping up service to Europe for next spring and summer, growing its trans-Atlantic capacity by 8% from 2022.
Its additions include a nonstop to Geneva, more London service and a resumption of daily Berlin flights, all from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
A new report indicates the travel industry in Asia-Pacific may be the only one in the world to recover by 2023.
This year's "Travel & Tourism Economic Impact" report — an annual publication by the London-based World Travel & Tourism Council — shows that, compared with pre-pandemic levels, tourism revenue in 2020 dropped more in Asia-Pacific [59%] than anywhere else.
Recovery efforts in the region were muted in 2021, with most countries there maintaining strict border restrictions. Tourism revenue's contribution to regional gross domestic product rose about 16%, lower than the 28% in Europe and 23% in North America.
However, the report shows Asia-Pacific is expected to close the gap this year, with the amount of travel revenue contributing to the overall economy forecast to grow by 71%.
Travel in Asia-Pacific is soaring this year — restrictions were first eased in India and Australia, then Malaysia and Thailand and other Southeast Asian nations, followed most recently by Japan, South Korea and Taiwan in the north.
The 10-year forecast
The WTTC's report expects continued gains to Asia-Pacific's travel industry in 2023, followed by another year of positive growth in 2024.
By 2025, it estimates, travel revenue will contribute 32% more to the region's GDP than it did before the pandemic — a number that far exceeds every other region's, except that of the Middle East [30%].
The report estimates the average annual growth rate of the global economy will be 2.7% from 2022 to 2032. Yet, during the same period, tourism's contribution to the global economy is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 5.8%, according to the report.
In Asia-Pacific, the numbers climb even higher, with tourism contributions to GDP expected to grow at an average annual rate of 8.5%, according to the WTTC.
Where travel jobs will be
The WTTC predicts the global travel industry will add 126 million new jobs in the next decade. Of this, it says, about 65% will be in Asia-Pacific.
Just under half of the new jobs are expected to be in China and India, according to the WTTC.
Job creation prediction by WTTC between 2022 and 2032, by country
Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines are also expected to see marked tourism job growth in the next decade, adding 5.3 million, 3.5 million and 3.15 million new jobs, respectively.
The China issue
To contain recent case spikes, officials have closed entertainment venues in Shanghai and schools in the central Chinese city of Xi'an, while placing millions of its citizens under new lockdowns.