Second-quarter travel costs in the Eastern U.S. have increased the most due to inflation among global destinations, according to data compiled by TravelPerk.
The data, based on bookings made through the TravelPerk platform, showed three of top five price increases from the first quarter to the second quarter were on routes out of New York. Flights from New York to San Francisco nearly doubled in the second quarter compared with the first quarter, flights from New York to Paris were 62 percent more expensive and flights from New York to Amsterdam were up 36 percent, according to TravelPerk. Other routes with the highest increases included Berlin to London (up 43 percent), London to Berlin (up 42 percent), London to New York (up 35 percent) and São Paulo to Amsterdam (up 28 percent).
New York's hotel prices showed some of the highest levels of inflation in the second quarter, up 49 percent compared with the previous quarter, the data indicated. Chicago had the highest hotel rate inflation, up 77 percent, followed by Boston with a 63 percent increase. Other cities topping hotel price inflation in the second quarter included Barcelona (up 48 percent), Berlin and Paris (each up 38 percent).
"These rises are due to a number of external factors that all parts of the travel industry are grappling with, including increased fuel costs, a shortage of labor and disruptions to the global economy," TravelPerk chief revenue officer JC Taunay-Bucalo said in a statement. "However, it is also true that providers are seeing a surge in demand and are looking to make up for the revenue lost during the pandemic. With demand for travel still extremely high as businesses and consumers race to get back to meeting in person for work and leisure post-pandemic, we do expect the cost increases we are seeing to continue for the remainder of this year."
The data also indicated that business travelers are still booking much closer to their travel date than they were prior to the pandemic, which also is leading to higher rates, Taunay-Bucalo added.
Besides the increase of flights from New York, San Francisco travel costs have not been hit as hard by inflation, according to the TravelPerk data. While second-quarter hotel costs were up 22 percent quarter over quarter, that was one of the lowest rates of increases among major cities, tying London, Madrid and Tallinn, Estonia. Only Singapore (4 percent) and Zurich (19 percent) had lower rates of inflation.
Two routes out of San Francisco also had the lower quarter-over-quarter rates of inflation: San Francisco to Amsterdam, up 6 percent, and San Francisco to London, where pricing was down 4 percent, TravelPerk reported. The London to Singapore route, down 10 percent in costs, was the only route with a lower rate of inflation.
Price inflation on rail routes has not been as high as air routes, according to TravelPerk. The biggest quarter-over-quarter increase was on travel from Bordeaux to Paris (up 35 percent), followed by Berlin to Munich (up 31 percent) and Paris to Bordeaux (up 30 percent). The lowest rates of inflation on rail routes were Heathrow to London (down 15 percent), Manchester to London (down 2 percent) and London to Manchester (up 5 percent).