Travelers across the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland and Russia plan to up their spend on trips by at least 39% in 2022 compared to what they paid in 2019, new research from Accor finds.
According to the hospitality company's Northern Europe Travel Trends Report, 30% of travelers are actively planning and booking trips for the first half of the year, while 50% are planning and booking for the second half of 2022 and nearly one in five (17%) are already booking trips for 2023.
Overall, despite threats from the Delta and Omicron coronavirus variants, 80% of survey respondents say they plan to travel in 2022.
While travelers are eager to venture out, their expectations are changing, with one in five saying their traveling priorities will be different post-pandemic.
Safety and hygiene and flexibility are chief among traveler priorities: According to the report, 31% of travelers want clearer health and safety standards, and one in five (19%) say they would be willing to pay more for a hotel room recognized for its cleanliness. Meanwhile, 30% of travelers say they’re seeking more flexibility on changes to bookings.
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European travelers also say they want touchless solutions and are focusing more on sustainability, with 23% expecting more contactless payment options and 17% wanting customer service to move through apps such as WhatsApp.
Eighty-seven percent of travelers say sustainability is factoring into decisions around where they go, how they get there and what they do.
On the changing trends, Karelle Lamouche, chief commercial officer for Accor Norther Europe, says: “Last year travel was spontaneous, often booked and taken within a few days. Now, post-Omicron, people are planning and booking travel already for the next three years. They have much to look forward to and make up for in 2022.”