Online Travel Agents Have Had a Good Year, says Tripadvisor

Online travel agents have had to deal with plenty this past year: borders closing and opening, airlines in chaos. The  year will forever be known as the great travel reboot. In 2022, travelers learned how to travel again — exploring new terrain, rediscovering favorite places, and making the most of long layovers. To that end, Tripadvisor has reviewed the highlights and unpacked all the good that was found along the way, at the trips that were taken and all the stories and memories that were brought back.

The global online travel agents market has seen a robust measure of growth since 2016, with an annual compounded growth rate of 2.2%. And since 2021, the market increased to a projected $1,002.5 billion to be seen in 2026, and marking a growth rate of 8.6%. 

At Tripadvisor, despite more than two years of bookmarking and saving holiday ideas (the big return was overwhelming for some – Where should I go first? What should I do next?), research found that ‘Relax and Rejuvenate’ was the main trip purpose for 50% of travelers globally. In fact, the most popular search terms were ‘Beach’ with 4.8 million searches, ‘Resort’ with 3.2 million searches and ‘Spa’ that was searched 1.7 million times.

Travelers were extra adventurous – looking to do something wild, wonderful and out of the ordinary to escape their daily routines. The year saw 1,636 shark-diving experiences booked, 16,563 ziplining tours booked and 47,015 ghost & vampire tour tickets sold.

Other online travel agent  insights from 2022:

• Trip planning was a major hit this year

-There were nearly 6.5 million new Trips (travel itineraries) created on Tripadvisor’s platform

-Whether a birthday weekend trips or solo-staycations, all were on the table

• Travelers loved the big cities this year
  

-Tripadvisor saw over 11 million traveler searches for Bangkok, Thailand, more than 43 million interested in London, England and 20 million looking up Las Vegas this year to date

• Travelers wanted unique, special, one-of-a-kind experiences

-Online travel agents saw more travelers booking private, small group experiences like a reindeer sleigh ride in Finland and a Private Day Tour To Giza Pyramids, Memphis and Sakkara  

Online Travel Agents Perspective: Where from CheapAir

Top U.S. Destinations

Perhaps not a major surprise, but a lot of individuals made reservations for Orlando vacations, according to CheapAir. Orlando consistently ranks high in travel trends, and with good reason. Families love visiting the Disney and Universal theme parks, and those wishing to escape the winter often choose Orlando because of the pleasant weather. The most popular location for both searches and bookings was Orlando. Los Angeles/Orange County, Las Vegas, and New York also ranked.

Top Overseas Destinations

Mexico was the most popular travel location for Americans. Its beaches are always a favorite. Cancun was the most popular search this online travel agent, but they also regularly looked up places like Tulum, Cabo San Lucas, and burgeoning Sayulita. For bookings, however, surprisingly Dubai was the most popular travel destination in 2022. 

Dubai: Why Dubai? After all, it’s hardly the cheapest place to travel. Due to Dubai’s popularity among foreign tourists, bitcoin customers frequently book this destination. In addition, the Dubai Expo, a significant event that took place between October 2021 and March 2022 brought in the interest. Dubai now enjoys greater international popularity than in previous years as a result of this event. And Dubai continues to draw an increasing number of tourists each year. In 2023, it doesn’t appear to be slowing down.

Other insight offered by the online travel agents at CheapAir: 

Busiest airport of 2022 – Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson

The busiest airport in 2022 was Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International (ATL). As of November, Atlanta serviced close to 65,000 flights for the year, covering 1,334 routes and 96 airlines. More than 36 million passengers passed through Atlanta in 2021, and though final numbers aren’t in yet, 2022 is expected to clear that staggering number.

While Atlanta is the country’s 38th largest city, a few strategic points make the airport the busiest by passengers. First, Atlanta is the hub for Delta, one of the busiest legacy airlines in the world. Next, Atlanta’s location on the eastern seaboard makes it an easy entry point for international travel. And third, the airport is within a two hour flight of 80% of the U.S. population. 

Most popular Airline – American Airlines

American Airlines came out on top as most popular for searches and bookings in CheapAir. Among the reasons: American has the most domestic flights of any air carrier, based on number of passengers carried. American also has an extremely popular and longstanding loyalty program with a dedicated customer base.

The busiest travel day of the year

That would be the Sunday after Thanksgiving, November 27, 2022. Of course, the frenzied and fraught 2022 Christmas holiday has yet to be tallied. But travelers will always pay a premium for these holidays unless they book well ahead of time. Also, extending a trip beyond the holidays is a strong savings option.

The least busy travel day of the year

The one day in which the airports and flights are light on people: in 2022 it was Friday, May 6. Early May is still not quite summer travel season, kids are still in school as people plan their first big trip around Memorial Day weekend. And for the air route that was lightest on demand and this lightest on the pocket: Philadelphia to Miami, which clocked in at $50 per roundtrip flight. 

The most expensive domestic flight and route paid on CheapAir in 2022 was $2,693 for a roundtrip Economy ticket from San Diego to Newark. Chances are, over the Christmas crush of 2022, that fare for a last minute from reprieve in spending the night on a departure gate floor was probably not so uncommon and maybe not the most expensive ticket. 

Other interesting travel trends delivered by Clearcover, self-described as a next generation travel insurance company, started with a note that nearly double the number of people surveyed voiced plans for traveling this holiday over last year. The survey also noted that nearly half (43%) of respondents planning to travel this year planned to take their pets. 

What’s Covid?

Only 10% of respondents who said they were unlikely to travel this year marked COVID-19 as the reason. This was a dramatic downturn from last year where 34.5% of respondents who chose not to travel last year cited the coronavirus as their primary reason for staying home.

At What Cost?

The online travel survey results showed that despite 63.5% of respondents citing cost as a main consideration when determining their holiday travel, the majority of those traveling again this year said they planned to spend the same amount, if not more, than they did traveling in 2021. 

Perhaps that optimism is a good thing as the latest customer data from WorldTrips shows an increasing number of travelers are spending more on vacations. The average cost for a 2023 trip to Europe is already around $8,817 — that’s up from $4,684 in 2022.  Domestic trips also went up with the average cost at $7,878. This comes as the price for airline tickets, accommodations, and food and entertainment continue to rise worldwide.