Global: Are consumers expecting costs of hotels and airline travel to increase or decrease in the next 12 months?

In the past few months, around 40% of global consumers across Europe, APAC, North America and MENA say they have noticed an increase in hotel prices. Now with inflation rates falling, at least a little, in most countries including US, in which categories are consumers expecting to see the biggest price changes in the coming year? And in which direction do they see the price of hotels and flights moving?

Data from a recently conducted YouGov survey, focused on 18 international markets, reveals that across all categories, most consumers believe prices will either increase a lot or a little. The highest share is seen in groceries (80%), health foods or wellness products (79%) and takeout/ restaurant food (77%). Around three-quarters of the global audience think the costs of airline travel (73%) and hotel accommodations (74%) will increase in the next 12 months. The percentage of consumers who believe prices will decrease, either a little or a lot, is generally low across all categories – and the travel categories are no exception.

We look at how consumers expect the price of air travel to move in the next 12 months. The data shows that in all four regions, the majority of consumers expect airline prices to increase. In North America, 37% of consumers expect a significant increase in prices, while 39% expect a slight increase. Similarly, in Europe, 34% of consumers expect the cost to increase a lot, while 44% expect a little increase. In UAE, a third of consumers (32%) think airfares will increase a lot, while another 33% expect a slight increase. In APAC, 29% of consumers expect a significant increase, while 36% expect a slight increase.

However, a substantial share of consumers in all regions expect airline prices to remain the same. While around two in ten consumers in North American (19%) and Europe (18%) don’t expect any changes in air travel costs, the share increases to nearly a quarter of consumers in UAE (23%) and APAC (24%).

Only a small percentage of consumers in all regions expect a decrease in airline prices, with the highest being in UAE (12%).

Overall, data suggests that consumers across different regions generally expect hotel prices to increase in the next 12 months, with some variation in the degree of expected price increases. A relatively small proportion of consumers predict price decreases.

In North America, 33% of consumers think that hotel prices will increase a lot in the next 12 months, while 43% believe that they will increase a little. In Europe, a similar trend can be observed, with 31% of consumers expecting a significant increase in hotel prices, and 48% predicting a slight increase.

The APAC region has a slightly different pattern. While 28% of consumers expect a significant increase in hotel prices, 39% think that prices will increase only slightly. Additionally, around a quarter of consumers (25%) believe that hotel prices will remain the same, suggesting that there is less certainty regarding potential price changes in this region.

In the UAE, only 25% of consumers expect a significant increase in hotel prices, while 39% think that prices will increase only slightly. However, a relatively high percentage of consumers (13%) predict that prices will decrease to some extent.

Explore our living data – for free

To receive monthly insights about travel and tourism register here.

To read YouGov’s latest intelligence on the travel industry explore here.

Make smarter business decisions with better intelligence. Understand exactly what your audience is thinking by leveraging our panel of 20 million+ members. Speak with us today. 

Methodology: YouGov Surveys: Serviced provide quick survey results from nationally representative or targeted audiences in multiple markets. The data is based on surveys of adults aged 18+ years in 18 markets with sample sizes varying between 512 and 2034 for each market. All surveys were conducted online in February 2023. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples. Learn more about YouGov Surveys: Serviced.

Photo by Edvin Johansson on Unsplash