The summer season may continue to run on last-minute bookings and short lead times, but positive times look set to follow. The latest edition of Duetto’s Pulse Report, which shows data for the first two weeks of June, highlights growing consumer confidence for travel in September and beyond.
On the books data for North America shows growing traveler confidence for specific markets within the region, with longer lead times resulting in positive growth from September through to the end of 2020.
Web traffic for the latter part of the year is also up in North America, with September seeing a 70-percent increase in volume for the first half of June. This web traffic mirrors the behavior of new bookings, with the Pulse Report showing positive signals for travel periods beyond the immediate short term booking window of 30-60 days.
The EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) region has seen similar positive trends to North America. New bookings have been predominantly short-term, but the latest edition of the Pulse Report is now showing early signals of longer-term travel plans. For example, the Pulse Report saw a 247-percent increase in bookings for stay dates from September through to the end of the year, comparing data for May 18-31 with June 1-14. September stay dates alone saw a 293-percent increase for the same period. This is likely driven in part by an extended appetite for travel into Southern Europe beyond the traditional peak summer months.
Mirroring this new bookings uptick is web traffic data for Europe, which has seen a 109-percent increase for June 1-14 over web traffic data seen for May 18-31.
Regionally, within Europe, hotels in the DACH region (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland) saw web traffic double for stay months through to the end of the year.
In the Asia Pacific region, where there is uncertainty around a second wave of COVID-19, international travel and events continue to dampen confidence beyond the end of Q3.
However, while on the books remain 70 percent behind same time last year for stay dates in June, July, and August, this shifts to 50 percent behind the same time last year from September onwards.
