Travel trends change, and this summer is no different. Whether it’s a European vacation or a trip to a national park, travelers are seeking out specific destinations. Priceline CEO Brett Keller joined TheStreet to share the biggest travel trends he’s seeing this summer.
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Full Video Transcript Below:
Conway Gittens: What are some of the top travel trends as we’re getting ready to go into the summer here. What are you seeing for summer 2020 for.
Brett Keller: Sure while we’re seeing a number of interesting trends take shape here. Obviously, events like concerts, sporting venues, et cetera, are really in vogue and people are traveling outside of their local destination to go attend these. Taylor Swift, obviously all about the headlines today, but people are using travel, obviously, to get to those destinations. And so we’re seeing obviously demand move into those markets as big venues and big concerts are taking place. That’s one. Two, as you look across, the us, national parks are absolutely at the top of people’s to do list. And so they’re spreading out across the U.S., attending and going to some of the biggest parks in the country. And so people really are pushing to be more outdoors to enjoy the beauty and the landscape and the peacefulness that these types of experiences bring. And finally, things like cruising is back at an all-time high again. The cruise lines have never been as well as they are right now. And so people really want to get out and experience new destinations. We’re also seeing things like all-inclusives really take off again as people want to have just a simple beach vacation without having to worry about booking restaurants and doing other things. They want to go to one spot, just relax and breathe and enjoy their vacation.
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Conway Gittens: Brett, what are you seeing in terms of the international domestic demand. There was some fluctuation, you know, around the pandemic, maybe because some international destinations were closed, some people wanted to stay close to home. What are you seeing in terms of the travel demand for Americans staying close to home in America versus going abroad.
Brett Keller: Yeah, you were right. Coming out of the pandemic, things really shut down. But people were still traveling within the borders of the United States. Next stage was to really go to near border destinations like the Caribbean and Mexico. And then last year, we saw a fairly dramatic shift. Many people were then moving outside of the U.S. because they hadn’t been overseas for two to three years. And so Europe was very big last year. Asia was still partially shut down. And so this year we’re seeing a lot more travel now shifting to Asia world, Southeast Asia. And again, as I referenced earlier, Japan is a very big destination right now because of the currency fluctuation. Paris is obviously very hot as the Olympics are coming up here at the end of July. So what we’re finding is a lot of consumers are going to Paris ahead and after the Olympics to avoid the crowds, but to still take advantage of one of the top destinations in the world. And obviously, the rest of the European hotspots continue to be very important for people. So obviously, people moving to Barcelona, to London, Madrid, Athens, a lot of great destinations to explore out there.
