From a busy Thanksgiving travel period to signs of growth in Western Europe's business travel sector, this week in travel stats saw some positive signs for the industry.
46.3 Million Americans to Travel This Holiday Season
46.3 million Americans are set to travel this Thanksgiving, according to Jetaport. Of those 3.5 million will travel by air, with average spending of $573. Here are the key findings:
The busy travel season is set to push up hotel prices -- mid-range hotel rates are up 8 percent, according to the report.
Western Europe's Business Travel Spend to Grow 6 Percent
In terms of business travel, spending in Germany, the U.K., France, Spain and Italy combined will grow at over 6 percent in 2015 and 2016, according to the GBTA BTI Outlook - Western Europe report, conducted by the GBTA Foundation, the education and research arm of the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), and sponsored by Visa, Inc. The GBTA says the data indicates that the European economy could be "gathering steam" and poised for a breakthrough. Here's a breakdown by country:
These five markets comprise nearly 70 percent of Western Europe’s business travel market. Business travel spending in the countries will grow 6.4 percent in 2015 and another 6.3 percent in 2016. In total, this segment of the Western European business travel market will grow from $186.3 billion USD (€140.2 billion) in 2014 to $210.6 billion USD (€220.3 billion) in 2016.
Millennial Travel Spending to Increase 10 Percent Next Year
Signs for Millennial travelers were also looking up this week. During the next 12 months, Millennials plan to spend 10 percent more on vacations compared to the last 12 months, according to MMGY Global's Portrait of American Travelers. That increase is higher than the 2 percent forecast increase among Matures or the 1 percent increase among Baby Boomers.
Millennials took an average of 3.4 vacations during the past 12 months, and intend to take significantly more during the next 12 months than their older counterparts. MMGY Global says this points to increased demand from Millennial travelers in the coming year.
Americans Spend 25 Percent More Time Booking Hotel Than Flight
Finally, this week also saw a deep dive into traveler booking behavior, courtesy of Sojern. According to Sojern's latest Hotel Insights Report, American travelers are apt to spend extra time looking before they book when it comes to hotels, but last-minute bookings are still on the rise.
“We found that two major behavior changes are rising in the consumer hotel world,” said Kurt Weinsheimer, Sojern’s SVP of property solutions. "Firstly, travelers are spending more time on the hotel path to purchase than they do when looking to buy an airline ticket - U.S. travelers, for instance, spent nearly 25 percent more time on their hotel path to purchase then when booking flights. Secondly, even as the path to purchase lengthens, last-minute bookers are multiplying.”
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