Dear Editor,
The summer tends to be the most profitable season for U.S. airlines because it’s the busiest travel season for them. The desire to travel for many in 2023 is high.
Airlines for America, an American trade association and lobbying group based in Washington, D.C., that represents major North American airlines since 1936, estimates that 256.8 million passengers will fly between June and August. This is a one per cent increase when compared to the same period in 2019.
Online travel agency Hopper reported that the demand is much stronger for Americans who want to travel abroad this summer holiday season, which has resulted in higher airfares to Europe and Asia.
Allianz Partners USA’s annual Vacation Confidence Index*, a travel insurance provider, stated that Americans’ total spending on summer vacations is likely to cross the $200 billion mark. The figure represents approximately a 10% increase over 2022, a 39% increase over 2021, a staggering 261% over 2020, and remarkable 111% increase compared to pre-pandemic spending in 2019.
“Americans are taking a no-holds-barred approach to summer vacations this year and prioritizing their PTO days. Allianz Partners USA’s 15th Annual Vacation Confidence Index* reveals that consumer vacation confidence is continuing its three-year trend with 61% of Americans intending to book a summer trip of 100 or more miles away from home for at least a week (up one point from last year, 19 points since 2019). The survey also revealed three-quarters (74%) say that an annual summer vacation is important, up 14 points since 2019.
“Since the pandemic, a paradigm shift has occurred in the American consumer’s mindset around the importance of taking time off to recharge and the invaluable benefits a vacation offers,” said Daniel Durazo, director of external communications at Allianz Partners USA. “This switch has propelled Americans’ confidence in taking a vacation to its highest point in our 15-year survey and indicates a new standard commitment to travel.
“While down two points from last year, Americans ages 18-34 are the most confident (67%) they will take a summer vacation, compared to 35-54-year-olds (64%, no increase year over year) and 55+ (53%, up 3 points).”
What does this mean for the Caribbean? At the moment there are “sky-high prices” to travel to the Caribbean this summer. There are a number of factors playing a role at the moment. The lack of airplanes (capacity), airline staff (pilots, cabin staff), lack of U.S. air traffic controllers are some of the reasons given for airlines to meet demand. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has asked airlines to cut back on the number of flights that they offer during the busy summer season.
The Caribbean region must rethink and develop a resilience plan that would positively influence more demand and travel to the tourism-oriented economies. Regional governments along with tourism and hospitality sectors will have to look further ahead as well and plan for different contingencies.
For example, current high airfares to the region may be for the short-term and all fingers are crossed that things will settle down and the various challenges as noted above that airlines are facing would have smoothed out by the upcoming high season – 2023/2024.
The Caribbean region tourism destinations will have to start thinking and planning for airfares to rise to fund decarbonization of the aviation sector as the costs will be borne by passengers as the airline industry transitions to net zero, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
At the 77th IATA Annual General Meeting in Boston, [Massachusetts – Ed.], USA, on 4 October 2021, a resolution was passed by IATA member airlines committing them to achieving net-zero carbon emissions from their operations by 2050. This pledge brings air transport in line with the objectives of the Paris agreement to limit global warming to scenarios below 2.0°C. Having agreed to a Long Term Aspirational Goal (LTAG) on climate at the 41st Assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in October 2022, governments now share the same target for aviation’s decarbonization.
Now is the time to evaluate and prepare for the future of travel.
Roddy Heyliger
