Hanover
After three hard Corona years, the travel industry is confident about the summer season and expects strong demand. How do the prices react – and what role does the time of booking play?
Tui expects higher prices and reduced capacities for short-term travel bookings in summer. “Ultimately there will be fewer last-minute offers than in the past,” said Tui Germany boss Stefan Baumert of the German Press Agency.
Higher prices possible for later bookings
“In particular, travelers who already have a holiday region, a place or even a hotel in mind, could only go away empty-handed in the summer if they book at short notice or find higher prices than at the moment.” Tui manager Steffen Boehnke made a similar statement.
Pre-orders by customers for the summer season had gotten off to a good start in the past few months. “We see a strong start in the entire travel market, and the proportion of early bookers is also increasing significantly compared to last year,” explained Baumert. It can be assumed that “the price level will not fall over the course of the summer due to the ongoing inflation”. Therefore, early bird discounts would be more attractive.
Discounts for early booking
In addition to Tui, other providers can gradually shed the consequences of the demand crash during the peak phase of the Corona crisis. However, there is often a long way to go to reach pre-pandemic volumes. The conclusion of early bookings should offer consumers and tourism companies alike greater planning security. Like other companies, Tui grants discounts if customers decide in advance for certain packages or hotels. The general increase in prices is also to be partly cushioned by an expanded range of cheaper accommodation.
Significant surcharges are likely to be due in the course of this year, especially for flight tickets. The boss of the Lufthansa subsidiary Eurowings, Jens Bischof, recently spoke of an average price increase of 10 to 20 percent, which he considers realistic. With a view to the summer, there is a “daily increasing dynamic”. The price level for corresponding connections had recently also increased on a number of flight and comparison portals on the Internet.
