AMERICAN TRAVELERS ARE BACK ON THE ROAD

Even with inflation at a record high, Americans are booking foreign trips for June, July, and August at 97 percent of pre-COVID levels as virus-related travel restrictions ease worldwide, according to data from travel research firm ForeignKeys.

Tickets to destinations in the Caribbean are at 109 percent of 2019’s volume, the service reported, with jaunts to Europe and South America at 93 and 95 percent, respectively, of their pre-COVID pace.

Asia lags at 62 percent of 2019’s level, due in large measure to lingering virus-related lockdowns and restrictions, particularly in China, which is only now emerging from a shutdown lasting more than two months.

Travelers who had planned itineraries in Poland and Hungary are now steering away from Europe’s war zone and rebooking into Greece and Italy, where hotel reservations are becoming hard to secure, Charles Neville, marketing manager at New York City’s JayWay Travel, told The Wall Street Journal.

The return of international travel is padding the revenues of major U.S. airlines, which have survived the COVID War on government supports.

“My clients are traveling again,” Jeff Ward of the Savvy Navigator travel agency told the WSJ. “I’m seeing everything pretty much back to pre-[COVID] levels.

TREND FORECAST: Consumers are venting their wanderlust that built up during the COVID War. The travel boom will last through the summer but fade markedly after Labor Day as ticket prices remain high, along with all other costs related to travel, and consumers’ spending power wanes.