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Strong demand seen for Xmas travel but budgets under pressure

Tripadvisor says people are still planning trips over the Xmas-New Year quarter but the rising cost of living means the majority are trying trim budgets.

Just over two thirds of people plan to travel over the Christmas-New Year period, covering the three months to the end of February 2023, according to a newly-released Tripadvisor index.

However the travel platform's Seasonal Travel Index found that global inflationary pressures continue to bite into consumer spending, with 62% of respondents changing travel plans as a result of rising living costs – a trend already seen in the previous two quarters of 2022.

"Around a third (32%) will likely travel less or for shorter lengths than previously planned, while a similar number (30%) plan to vacation closer to home than previously planned," Tripadvisor said in a statement.

Affordability is key

Affordability is now nearly twice as important as other factors when planning a trip, it said, with 36% planning to spend about the same amount as last year on travel and just over half (52%) spending more.

The majority of global travellers (57%) plan to travel domestically, however, the propensity to take international trips has increased (from 40% to 43%) since the previous Seasonal Travel Index. 

"With winter on the horizon in the northern hemisphere, the most popular global destinations feature a mix of major global cities like Paris, London and New York, along with winter sun favourites such as Cancun, Dubai and Punta Cana," Tripadvisor said.

Australians in particular are more inclined to travel internationally, a feature attributed to seasonality and the recent reduction of Covid-19 restrictions. 

The data was sourced from online survey of over 2,100 consumers, in partnership with Qualtrics, across six countries as well as site behavioural data sourced from first party traffic data on  Tripadvisor, gathered during October 2022, for searches made by travellers in the US, UK,  Australia, Japan and Singapore.

Falstaff Editorial Team
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