Where are our travelers headed this Easter and Spring Break?

For many travelers, Easter and Spring Break is their first chance to enjoy some time off to travel with family and friends after the winter holidays. With so many countries limited by travel restrictions over the festive season this year, it’s fair to assume this upcoming break has been on everyone’s mind for a while! Our search data for key markets like the US, UK and Germany indicates that there is a clear desire to spend time abroad, book longer getaways and plan city breaks again.

Key takeaways

• Travelers are regaining confidence: Compared to our New Year’s trends we published earlier this year, there is a clearer desire to spend time abroad this Easter/Spring Break, with cities like Paris and London appearing in the top 10 lists for all the markets in this report as well as the majority of our European markets. Barcelona also appears in all top 10 lists except for the US. Travelers also seem to book longer trips compared to both pre-pandemic levels and our initial New Year’s trends, with length of stay on average increasing by one day.

• Travel budgets are increasing: Countries like the US and UK saw the steepest increase in the average clicked price per night for a hotel room from 2019. Travelers are not only willing to travel for longer, but seem to be willing to pay more per night.

• City breaks are still on the rise: With restrictions on public life diminishing in most major cities, there is a clear uptick in searches to both capital and other large cities across Europe and the US. Cities that saw the biggest increase in searches for Easter and Spring Break compared to pre-pandemic levels include Las Vegas, Paris, London and Dubai. That said, cities like Amsterdam, New York and Berlin has seen a slower recovery with levels still below 2019.

Trends per market

US

US travelers are planning longer trips, seeking entertainment and spending more.

Planning earlier for longer breaks: US travelers are clearly eager to go on holiday this year. They went from planning trips a month in advance to planning their next getaway two and a half months ahead. They’re also taking longer breaks this Spring, with their average length of increasing from 3 days in 2019 to 4 days this year.

Increase in average budget: Out of all locales, the US shows the highest relative increase in average price per night from 2019 (47%). In the US, the average clicked price per night went from around $120 in 2019 to $200 in 2022.

Top destinations: What are they up to on these extended trips? Our data shows that Las Vegas is currently the top destination in the US, leading in search data month over month in 2022 and much of 2021. Anaheim, California, home of the Disneyland Resort, rose 7 positions, now ranking as #8 on the US top travel destination list. City trips to New York, Paris and London are also exceeding 2019 levels and there is a clear desire to travel abroad again now that most of Europe have loosened restrictions.

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UK

UK travelers are more confident to book in advance, eager to travel abroad, and go away for longer.

Planning earlier for longer breaks: Travelers are more eager than ever to plan a proper, longer break now that restrictions are lifting across the world. We see an increase in how far in advance travelers book their Easter trips (booking in January vs. booking in February) and length of stay (from 3 days to 4 days) above 2019 levels.

Increase in average budget: Brits are willing to spend more on their getaways, with the price per night increasing by 38% from £113 to £157.

Top destinations: Though cities like Barcelona, New York and Amsterdam have decreased in popularity since 2019, Dubai, Paris and Las Vegas continue to grow in popularity and local city destinations like London, Edinburgh and Liverpool are popular over the Easter break.

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Germany

German travelers are looking to travel abroad and remain price-sensitive. 

Planning earlier for longer breaks: With travel restrictions being loosened across Europe and the US, German travelers are planning longer in advance (from 2 months to 2.5 months) and plan to go away for longer (from 3 days to 4 days).

Top destinations: 7 out of the top destinations for Easter are outside Germany. Local destinations like Cologne, Berlin and Munich are seeing an overall decrease in popularity, whereas Dubai, Barcelona and New York increased in popularity.

Increase in average budget: German travelers are historically price sensitive. They show the lowest relative clicked per night increase since 2019 (21%).

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Our UK, US and German travelers are clearly more motivated and confident to travel than they’ve been in years as restrictions dropped throughout Q1, despite increased global prices and current political events. Longer stays, booking further in advance and an increase in city travel shows travelers are increasingly confident to book their trips now that the pandemic is slowly evolving into an endemic.

If you have any questions on the data above or you’re interested in data from other markets, feel free to reach out:

Ankia Wolf
Corporate Communication
ankia.wolf@trivago.com

Methodology: This report is based on comparison data between January 2019 and 2022 in order to compare this year’s Easter and Spring break travel to pre-pandemic levels. To gauge how travel behaviour has hanged from 2019 to 2022, we looked into searches done on trivago from 2018-01-01 to 2019-04-30 and 2021-01-01 to 2022-03-28 for trips taking place during Easter/Spring Break 2022.