Revenge travel is losing its appeal

After three years of rushing to book trips in the wake of pandemic-era restrictions, sharply higher fares, protests against tourism, fatigue from endless hours spent in airports and incomes squeezed by inflation are all taking their toll.

- Andrea Felsted

Travel demand is far from falling off a cliff. But there are signs that our wanderlust is downshifting from never-ending to a more normal pattern.

For airlines and tour operators, the next few months will be crucial in filling remaining seats and hotel rooms. If demand is strong, they will be able to sell leftover capacity at higher prices. But if consumers hold off, they'll be forced to discount, something that hasn't happened in the past three years.

In Europe, many people who were passionate about their vacations booked in January, in order to secure their preferred destination, hotel and even room. But in recent months, some consumers, particularly more budget-constrained families, have been holding off to see how their own finances, and holiday prices, developed. TUI, the world's biggest tour operator, has sold about 60 per cent of the vacations available this summer. That's broadly in line with last year, but it's still a lot of sunny breaks to shift in an uncertain environment.

European travellers are also shopping around. At Thomas Cook, now reborn as an online tour operator, bookings to Spain's Balearic and Canary Islands are flat year over year. This reflects cost you can get more for your money in Turkey, mainland Spain and Egypt - where holiday sales are up.