The fifth annual Global Travel Forecast was released today by the Global Business Travel Association, Carlson Wagonlit Travel, and the Carlson Family Foundation. While the report has bad news for budgets, with predicted price increases across the board for travel and hospitality, the overall outlook shows that the health of the meetings industry and business travel are spurring demand. The main factors affecting prices are increased fuel costs and global uncertainty sparked by Brexit and the threat of trade wars.
Airfares will rise in 2019 both domestically, by an average of almost two percent, and internationally, where European flights are expected to go up an average of 4.8 percent with some destinations becoming even more expensive. The four most expensive destinations for flights next year are expected to be Norway (11.5 percent increase), Germany (up 7.3 percent), France (up 6.9 percent), and Spain (up 6.7 percent). However, flights to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa may be more than two percent cheaper in 2019. North America will see a spike in the cost of flights by 1.8 percent, while flights to Latin America will drop with the exception of Mexico, Columbia, and Chile. Overall, the Asia-Pacific zone will only see a slight rise in the cost of flights, but some newly popular destinations are becoming much more expensive, for example, in New Zealand the forecast is for a 7.5 percent rise in the cost of flights and also an 11.8 percent rise in hotel costs.
Hotel prices will rise in most destinations, including a 2.7 percent increase in the United States, a 5 percent increase in Canada, and much steeper increases in Europe.
Other 2019 travel trends predicted in the report are an increase in the number of long-haul flights, increased hotel personalization with a greater interest in boutique hotels by younger travelers, and greater use of travel apps.
