Consumers Are Finally Growing Wary of High Travel Prices

High prices are a current and future threat to a robust travel industry, according to the latest research conducted by TravelAge West, part of its Need to Know series. In a survey of nearly 400 travel advisors, the vast majority (95%) say they are personally “very” (49%) or “somewhat” (46%) concerned about the effect of high prices on business. The same number (95%) of advisors say that their clients have also expressed worries about pricing. 

An additional 53% believe high prices will lead to a slowdown in travel business in the second half of this year.

Overall, while pricing is high and clients do comment, people are still booking, and booking a lot.

“Overall, while pricing is high and clients do comment, people are still booking, and booking a lot,” said Steve Orens, president of Plaza Travel, a FROSCH company. “Properties seem to be full — even in soft seasons there are more people than before — and airports and planes are full. People are loving traveling, despite the challenges of getting to places.”

Concern About High Prices Is New; Advisors Are Worried About a Travel Slowdown

This worry over pricing is a somewhat new phenomenon, according to advisors. More than three-fourths (79%) say they are seeing more concern about inflated costs from clients this year than last year.

In particular, 80% of advisors say that airline pricing is the greatest concern for clients, followed by the cost of hotels and resorts (12%). 

Advisors also believe that travel companies in general are not doing enough to control high prices — 77% feel that suppliers can do more to help.

Looking ahead, most advisors (58%) feel that current travel costs are not sustainable in the long run. An even larger percentage (77%) think high costs will lead to a slowdown in travel next year.

Future Bookings Remain High, But Advisors Are Concerned About Cancellations if Prices Don't Lower

This is despite the fact that most advisors (65%) say they have more or the same future travel business on the books for next year now than they had at this time last year. A little more than a third (35%) have less business than at the same time last year.

The majority (60%), however, agrees that high prices are making clients more hesitant to book future travel.

“It’s a puzzling time,” said Korrine Johnson, co-owner of Journeys Travel Company. “On one hand, it seems impossible that these prices are sustainable. On the other hand, I’m currently quoting European cruises for 2024 and there isn’t much availability, so consumers are obviously optimistic. I’m wondering if we’ll see many cancellations when it’s time to book the air for these cruises. It feels impossible to predict anything right now, but suppliers have no incentive to drop prices when they are selling the space.”