New data from Cirium
shows that flight bookings from the U.S.
to Europe
for this summer are down, and they’ve actually gotten worse over the past
couple of months.
Examining flight
reservations for July that were made between early October and mid-March, bookings
bound from the U.S. to Europe are down 11.2 percent compared to the same period
last year. In a February analysis, that drop was shown to be only 7.3 percent,
so demand is clearly continuing to slide as summer gets closer.
As reported by Travel
Weekly, some cities are seeing bigger drops than others. Frankfurt has been
the hardest hit for some reason, with bookings down 26.8 percent. Athens and
Dublin are also among the most impacted, with bookings down 19.9 percent and 12.4
percent, respectively.
Even some of the
most perennially popular destinations are taking a hit. London, Munich and
Milan are all down around 11 percent, while cities like Barcelona (8.3 percent),
Paris (7.8 percent), Amsterdam (7.3 percent), Rome (6.2 percent) and Madrid (5.7
percent) are also seeing declines.
And it’s not just
Americans cutting back on European trips.
Travel headed in the opposite direction, from Europe to the U.S., has declined to an even greater
degree. As of mid-March, bookings for July flights were down 15.3 percent
compared to last year, slightly worse than where things stood at the end of
January.
The data comes
from third-party booking platforms like online travel agencies and global
distribution systems, so it doesn’t include flights booked directly with
airlines, but it still gives a pretty solid picture of what’s going on.
Even upcoming big
events don’t seem to be having much of a positive effect on the situation.
With the World Cup
coming to North America, you might expect travel demand to spike, but so far,
that hasn’t really happened. Bookings from Europe to U.S. host cities for June
are down 6.7 percent, while Mexico’s host cities are down 6.4 percent. Canada
is seeing a smaller dip, with bookings down 1.5 percent.
Whether all this
is due to the present geopolitical
strife, rising travel costs, global perceptions of the U.S., airport
security chaos or something else, it’s clear that transatlantic travel is
cooling off after several years of strong post-pandemic demand.
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