Flying has been maddeningly unpredictable. Airline and hotel prices remain high. And inflation has forced many people to cut back on appliances and new clothes. Delayed vacations, conventions and weddings have led to booked resorts and hotels, creating a sort of seasonal drift that has forced travelers to pay summer prices for fall trips.
Still, more than 60 percent of Americans said they plan to travel this fall, compared with 54 percent of respondents last year, according to TripAdvisor, the travel site, which surveyed 2,700 would-be travelers across six countries about their plans this season.
And 66 percent of those respondents said that they planned to spend more money traveling this fall than they did last year, said Brian Hoyt, a spokesman for TripAdvisor. “Travel is not going to be one of those things that they pull back on,” Mr. Hoyt said. “They’re still going to travel even knowing that they’re going to spend more than the year before.”
Some are willing to splurge on flights to Italy and Turks and Caicos and excursions like ATV tours of the Mojave Desert in Nevada. Others are paying to clean up beaches in Barcelona or help restore coral reefs in the Caribbean, vacations crafted as “nature positive tourism.”
How much will you spend if you travel this fall? It depends. Cruise deals are still plentiful, but hotel prices are stubbornly expensive. Airline tickets, while cheaper than this summer, are still higher than they were before the pandemic.
And don’t expect the cancellations and delays that infuriated travelers in recent months to stop anytime soon. “While things have improved since early summer, airline cancellations are still going to be a factor for fall travel,” said Eric Jones, co-founder of The Vacationer, an online travel guide.
What else can you expect this fall?
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