Excerpt from Washington Post

It’s been a sizzling summer of travel, but this will likely be the peak of the post-pandemic boom. As longer nights start to draw in, the urge to splurge on pricey trips is bound to fade. 

As it returned to profitability for the first time since the pandemic, TUI AG said bookings for this summer were up 6% from 2022. Yet although customers continue to spend more on their vacations, this is a slowdown from the 13% increase reported at the second quarter.

The world’s biggest package-tour operator said this reflected three weeks of uncertainty amid a heatwave in parts of Europe and wildfires that raged in Rhodes last month. But there are signs elsewhere that our wanderlust is starting to wane.

In the US, Alaska Air Group Inc., JetBlue Airways Corp., Frontier Group Holdings Inc. and Spirit Airlines Inc. — all carriers that primarily cater to North American markets — have warned that weaker demand in their home territory will weigh on fares and results this fall. The airlines all blamed a rapid shift in preference among Americans for international travel in the first full summer without substantive Covid restrictions since the beginning of the pandemic. The strong dollar is also helping boost the appeal of a holiday in Europe.

But there are growing concerns that this pullback isn’t just about geographies, and that consumers are reining in spending amid high prices.

Airbnb Inc. said customers booked 115.1 million nights and experiences in the three months ending June 30. That was 11% ahead of the same period a year earlier, but the slowest pace of growth since the pandemic shutdowns. Destination Analysts, which has been polling American travelers for the past three years, found that while leisure trips remain a high priority, budgets are coming under pressure.

At Omni Hotels & Resorts, revenue per available room at a comparable set of hotels in the current quarter is trending to be flat relative to a year earlier, “or maybe down a little bit,” President Kurt Alexander said. The company’s portfolio of properties is primarily in the US, and rates are dropping at some of its leisure-oriented resorts as international travel markets siphon off demand.

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