Dive Brief:
- American consumers planning to travel this holiday season are less concerned about hotel costs compared to 2023, according to PwC’s Holiday Outlook 2024.
- Nonetheless, more than half (56%) of Americans hitting the road this holiday season plan to stay with friends or family, a “significant” increase over 2023. Some 46% of Americans plan to travel during the 2024 holiday season, according to PwC.
- Among those making travel bookings, many are leveraging loyalty, using reward redemptions to cut down on costs this season. PwC noted that these travelers are also increasingly tech-savvy, with tech-forward offerings like contactless hotel check-in, keyless room entry and online booking ranking “high on traveler wish lists.”
Dive Insight:
Around travel costs more generally, levels of concern have also fallen this year among those planning to travel for the holidays, from 68% in 2023 to 61% in 2024, according to PwC. Travelers are also less worried about gasoline prices, flight cancellations and long delays at check-in and security, the report said.
However, some 63% of consumers plan to spend less this holiday season than last year. And baby boomers are the most likely of any generation (65%) to choose to stay with friends and family during their holiday travels.
Some 59% of American consumers say that inflation will “probably” influence their overall holiday spending in 2024, including gifts and other purchases not related to travel, per PwC.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Travel Association found that cooling inflation impacted the travel sector in August, with prices for travel-related goods and services growing less than those in other sectors in the month.
And for business travel prices specifically, the Global Business Travel Association projected last month that prices will moderate worldwide through this year and into 2025.
The 2023 holiday season was one of the busiest in years, with hotels benefitting from a return to pre-pandemic holiday travel norms.
