According to new data from the Adobe Digital Economy Index, which analyzes data from six of the country’s top ten airlines and over 150 billion web visitors, bookings for domestic flights in February have now surpassed pre-pandemic levels.
In February, Americans spent $6.6 billion on domestic flight bookings online, up 6 per cent from the same month last year. It’s also up 18 per cent from January 2022 and surpasses the demand in December and November.
Americans spent $56 billion on domestic flights via the internet in 2021, which is still 26 per cent less than the 2019 amount, considered the pre-pandemic average.
While the outlook for this year is positive, flight fares are also rising. Even though January 2022 witnessed a three per cent fall in costs below pre-pandemic levels, flight fares were five per cent higher in February than they were in January 2019.
Inflation continues to play a significant role in how much people spend. While income is up six per cent from pre-pandemic levels, confirmed bookings are up only four per cent from last year.
While Memorial Day weekend bookings are down 18 per cent from last year, summer travel is down three per cent, showing that more people prefer to vacation further out.
“The Adobe Digital Economy Index has been monitoring the airline recovery on a weekly basis, and in the second week of February 2022, we saw domestic bookings and revenue surpass 2019 levels for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic,” said Vivek Pandya, lead analyst, Adobe Digital Insights. “This is a major turning point, and it shows a level of consumer confidence we’ve not seen in many months.”
The data also revealed the most popular destination for travellers in April and May.
The most popular destinations were:
- Belgrade, Montana;
- Fort Myers, Florida;
- Kailua-Kona, Hawaii;
- Palm Springs, California;
- Kahalui, Hawaii;
- Orlando, Florida;
- Tampa, Florida;
- Lihue, Hawaii;
- Pensacola, Florida; and
- Honolulu, Hawaii.
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Source:
TravelPulse