Is the party over? New data suggests revenge travel may be ending soon

The era of unabated “revenge travel” may be coming to a close.

New reports show that, after years of inflation and rising travel costs, travelers may finally be curtailing their travel plans.

A new report by the research company Morning Consult shows that travel intentions are increasing in several countries, but flatlining or falling in others, most notably in Europe.

Intentions to travel dropped 11 percentage points in France and six in Germany since 2022, according to Morning Consult’s “The State of Travel & Hospitality” report published in September.

Interest to travel also fell in Canada and Russia (-4 percentage points each), the survey showed.

As to whether this suggests pent-up demand is ending: “Yes, our data suggests that is so,” said Lindsey Roeschke, travel and hospitality analyst at Morning Consult.

“That’s not to say that travel will decline significantly again, but … in short, the majority of those who were waiting to take their ‘revenge trips’ have already done so,” she said.

A slowdown may be more pronounced in Europe, said Roeschke.

“Much of this is related to the economy — inflation has eaten away at consumers’ savings in the past year and caused them to reprioritize how they spend,” she said.

An influx of North American tourists over the summer drove prices higher, making travel even more expensive for Europeans. Put together, this paints “a more pessimistic outlook on travel compared to other regions.”

Pent-up demand was expected to have greater staying power in Asia-Pacific, where Covid border restrictions were kept in place longer than other parts of the world.

However, a new report by the economic advisory firm Oxford Economics says “short haul ‘revenge travel’ is likely to fade” in the region.

Pent-up demand fueled travel in Asia-Pacific in the first half of 2023, but since then, the trend is starting to reverse, it states,…