As consumers around the world plan a summer of ‘revenge travel’ in the wake of easing restrictions, data from Trip.com shows that consumers are excited to travel again. Trip.com analysed data from their booking sites across Europe and Asia and the results show that users still have an appetite for city breaks, staycations and short-haul trips in a post-pandemic world.
Wednesday is the most popular day to plan a trip
For summer 2022, midweek is the most popular time to plan a holiday. Data shows that Trip.com users browse flights and hotels on Tuesday through Thursday. However, Wednesday is the most popular day overall for flight searches, with Saturday being the quietest.
Deciding when to take a holiday over the summer is often a tricky task for consumers, with price fluctuations, school holidays and, in Europe, the threat of cancelled flights and strikes to consider.
Related: How TPA Prepares for a Record Summer Travel Season
When looking at the summer period (June-September), July 1 was the most popular day for flight departures. It was also the most popular hotel check-in date that users searched for on Trip.com’s sites in the UK and Thailand.
Hotel booking window extended by up to a week
As Covid-19 began to affect travel in 2020, uncertainty and travel restrictions spread across the industry, customers adapted their booking habits and moved to last-minute reservations.
Trip.com data shows that by June 2020, the booking window for hotel stays had fallen from 20.3 days (June 2019 data) to 6.1 days in Asia. Flights saw a similar trend, with the booking window on Trip.com’s European sites falling to 13.4 days in June 2021 – from close to double that – 22.2 – just two years prior.
However, this summer, Trip.com’s data signals a return to pre-pandemic trends, with booking windows once again rising. In Europe, the window for hotel reservations in June 2022 matches the level seen in 2019 – 14.2 days; booking windows for flights extended to 14.2 days from 6.4 days of June 2021. Similar trends are evident across Asia, with booking windows for flights rising to 16.4 days in June 2022 from 6.1 days in June 2020.
This interesting finding has reflected the returning confidence of travellers to make their travel decisions earlier than when the pandemic had just started. However, it is important to note that booking windows still remain shorter than pre-pandemic in the region, as restrictions remain across many nations and districts.
Europe: city-centric summer holidays are high on the agenda
Airlines and hotel chains have reported bookings and occupancy levels rising to pre-pandemic numbers for the first time this spring.
Trip.com’s European sites saw an average monthly growth in traffic of around 10% between April and July, further underlining the increased demand for summer getaways.
Interestingly, where many travellers are opting for beach holidays over city breaks this year, the data shows that city-centric summer holidays are still high on the agenda for Europeans. With must-visit sites, culture, food and new experiences tempting customers to take trips to some of Europe’s most enticing cities.
Customers book longer trips post-pandemic
With many consumers looking to book more lavish summer holidays after two years of pent-up demand, when it comes to trip length, the figures reveal some surprising insights. Interestingly, European customers travelled for longer during 2020 than they did previously, with the average trip length in June 2019 being 6.2 days, rising to 8.8 in 2020 and back down to 6.6 in June 2022.
Asian travellers, on the other hand, are travelling for an average of 7.6 days in 2022, an increase on the average of 6.6 days in June 2019 – but a decrease on 2021’s average of 8.7 days.
