Expedia expects 'busiest ever' summer as tourism recovery moves closer to reality

The travel booking giant's chief executive, Peter Kern, also said: “And yes, prices will be high."

With borders reopening in parts of the world such as Australia that had not yet welcomed back international tourism, many pandemic-era travel barriers will start to recede.

The chief executive of online travel booking giant Expedia expects this summer to be the busiest travel season “ever”, with 2023 being the year that the tourism recovery becomes a reality rather than just a prediction.

“Summer 2022 will be the busiest travel season ever,” Peter Kern said.

“We’ve been talking about pent-up demand for a long time, but until now there have been too many restrictions in place for people to do too much with it,” he said.

With Europe expected to relax restrictions, mask mandates falling even in liberal US states, and borders reopening in parts of the world such as Australia that had not yet welcomed back international tourism, many pandemic-era travel barriers will start to recede.

It’s not just the ease of travel that will portend its comeback; it’s the combination of high volumes and high prices.

“Airlines are expecting to be back to historic levels by August,” Mr Kern said. 

“And yes, prices will be high. But at this point, I think people are willing to pay whatever the hell it takes to get away and go to a place they want to go," he added.

Michael O’Leary recently said that he expected summer 2022 to yield 115% of the passenger volumes that Ryanair recorded pre-pandemic, in 2019.

-Bloomberg