New year, new travel trends for 2023

trivago’s findings show the cost-of-living crisis is influencing consumers to shake up their travel habits for 2023.

DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY – December 16, 2022 – While inflation and energy prices are hitting a record high especially in the Euro zone, hotel prices are likely to remain high in 2023. Operational expenses for hotels are expected to continue going up globally as inflation has increased and staffing issues are most severe in the hospitality & travel industry. As a result, trivago’s latest findings show consumers have already started to adapt their 2023 travel behaviours to adjust to the current economic environment. These changes include comparing hotel prices more, taking shorter trips, and choosing alternative and more affordable destinations.

Cheaper deals and shorter trips
Data over the January – November 22 in Europe shows a stronger month on month drop in clicked price compared to 2019 especially for the months of September (-5% vs -2% in Sept 2019) and October (-4% vs 0% in Oct 2019), meaning that users are searching for cheaper offers compared to the same period pre-pandemic.

Axel Hefer CEO of trivago comments: “While big city trips will remain on top of travellers’ minds, alternative destinations will become more popular. This summer we have already seen an increase in searches for international travel to some second- and third-tier cities primarily in Southern Europe. This trend is likely to continue in 2023.”

2023 popular travel destinations
Mediterranean countries, such as Turkey, Greece, Spain, Italy, and Portugal will likely attract even more than before as they are most affordable and guaranteed good weather throughout the year.
As an example, in the UK, searches for Istanbul in 2022 increased by 52% compared to last year and are up 15% compared to pre-pandemic. Istanbul is one of the few non-UK cities to make it to the top 20 most searched destinations in 2022.

2023 rising destinations
The top 5 destinations for 2023 that showed the strongest uplift in searches compared to 2021:

• Buenos Aires, Argentina (128% search increase from last year)
• Beppu, Japan (88% search increase from last year)
• Fatima, Portugal (87% search increase from last year)
• Mississauga, Canada (85% search increase from last year)
• El Arenal, Spain (82% search increase from last year)

2023 Rising stars – Methodology
Searches done in 2022 for trips taking place in 2022. Destinations above showed the strongest year-on-year increase and a positive increase compared to 2019.

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Media Contact
Corentine Aronica
Corentine.aronica@trivago.com

About trivago:
trivago is a global hotel and accommodation search platform. We are focused on reshaping the way travelers search for and compare different types of accommodations, such as hotels, vacation rentals and apartments, while enabling our advertisers to grow their businesses by providing them with access to a broad audience of travelers via our websites and apps. Our platform allows travelers to make informed decisions by personalizing their search for accommodations and providing them with access to a deep supply of relevant information and prices. As of September 30, 2022, we offered access to more than 5.0 million hotels and other types of accommodation in over 190 countries, including over 3.8 million units of alternative accommodation, such as vacation rentals and apartments.

Forward-looking statements
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