While the world of commercial aviation has largely settled into a period of post-coronavirus recovery, certain obstacles are still preventing passengers from traveling as much as they might have before COVID hit. A key factor in this is the rising cost of living, but how much is this impacting people’s travel plans?
An important factor
Skyscanner took a look into this question as part of its recent ‘Horizons’ travel survey. This saw the company question 11,000 travelers from 10 countries around the world in order to get a better idea of what their travel and spending habits will look like in the future. Regarding the rising cost of living, they were asked:
“Are the rising prices of everyday items impacting your plans to book an international holiday in 2023?”
On a worldwide scale, 59% of the survey’s respondents confirmed that this is indeed the case in their situation. Another 16% said that they didn’t know, while the remaining 25% reported that their travel plans were not being affected.
Interestingly, there was a significant degree of variation when it came to the answers given by respondents from the survey’s different participating countries. For example, just 33% of UK respondents said yes, compared to 73% in the UAE. Another Middle Eastern nation, Saudi Arabia, also ranked highly in this regard, with 71%.
What measures are passengers taking?
The Horizons survey also examined the steps that travelers are taking to save money when it comes to their future travel plans. For example, 36% of respondents said that, for future international trips, they would pick destinations where their currency would go further. This was a particularly popular response among participants from the US, with 57% of them indicating that this would be the case.
While not all of the 11,000 participants answered these follow-up questions, the 6,408 that did painted an interesting picture of the travel and spending habits of future passengers. Spending less money on hotels also ranked highly, with 32% of respondents suggesting that this would form part of their budget travel plans.
The same proportion also indicated that they would be looking to reduce the amount of money spent upon arrival at their destination. An example of this could be opting for self-catered accommodation rather than eating out on a daily basis. The US was once again the largest source of ‘yes’ answers in this regard, with 51% responding as such. At the other end of the scale, Italy’s figure was just 20%.
Spending to increase despite present challenges
While the rising cost of living is prompting passengers to think harder about how they will travel, it certainly isn’t putting them off travel altogether. Indeed, Skyscanner’s Horizons survey also noted that 45% of respondents are planning to travel more in 2023, with 41% also prepared to invest more money into such trips. This demand will likely help sustain commercial aviation’s ongoing recovery efforts.
Source: simpleflying.com