Overview of Current Travel Trends
- Current travel prices are rising, with flights and hotels becoming more expensive.
- Car rental prices are surprisingly lower than last year, offering a glimmer of hope for travelers.
- International travel demand is growing, while domestic searches are slightly declining.
- Flexibility in travel plans can lead to significant savings on international flights.
As you’ve probably noticed when planning your summer vacation, travel is not cheap these days. Overall, prices are soaring — flight prices are up 35 percent and hotels are up 5 percent compared to last year, according to a new Kayak report.
However, there’s one part of the travel world where prices are actually lower than anticipated: car rentals. Kayak found daily car rental prices to be 13 percent lower than they were last year. Considering the outrageous cost of car rentals over the past few years, this is a welcome change.
During the pandemic, the car rental industry had quite the roller coaster ride. In the early days, companies sold off much of their fleets to keep their businesses afloat when there was very little demand for car rentals. Subsequently, as domestic travel to remote outdoor areas resumed with vigor, there was a severe shortage of rental cars, causing prices to skyrocket.
According to Kayla Inserra, Kayak’s consumer travel trends expert, “The car shortage is finally declining and rental car companies have plenty of inventory making the overall process of renting a car this summer more accessible and affordable.”
Moreover, while lower car rental prices might suggest that domestic road trips could present a budget-friendly vacation choice this summer, Kayak is not seeing as much demand for them. In fact, international flight searches are up 42 percent, while searches for domestic travel have decreased by 2 percent.
If you’re set on an international trip this summer, you’ll need to conduct some additional research to discover the best prices. Inserra advises, “The farther out you can book, the better when it comes to international travel this summer. However, if your travel dates are flexible, there are still deals to be found. Using Kayak’s Explore tool, I found flights to Copenhagen in July and Paris in August for under $500. You may have to fly midweek to get those prices, but with the rise of remote work, this is more feasible than ever before.”
