This is why the era of revenge travel is finally over

Published 7:36 am Wednesday, January 24, 2024

By Veronika Bondarenko

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One of the viral terms to spread on the internet over the last two years was “revenge travel.”

Born out of the period when countries slowly started opening up their borders amid vaccination during the covid-19 pandemic, the term is frequently used to describe the long-awaited trip that some people were unable to take during lockdown and the general sense of wanderlust and urgency to move around again after being locked up for many months.

In its annual 2024 Travel Outlook report, financial advisory firm Deloitte found that TSA traffic was up 12.5% from January to November 2023 in comparison to the same months last year but only 11% of those surveyed said that they were traveling to “make up” for a missed trip.

Two women run toward the water at a beach.

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‘Intent to travel’ still at an all-time high

“Everybody’s been talking about the pent-up demand and revenge travel but what we’re seeing is that 2024 is going to benefit from more of a lasting shift and the general prioritization of travel over spending on other goods,” Eileen Crowley, who heads Deloitte’s U.S. Audit & Assurance Transportation, Hospitality & Services sector, told TheStreet in an interview. “The intent to travel still seems to be to be there so it’s a lasting change that people value travel versus buying durable goods.”

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In proof of these words, the number of Americans who took a trip in which they stayed in paid lodging during the summer months has been rising steadily — from 41% in 2021 to 46% in 2022 and 50% in 2023.

The number of trips taken by the average person has also risen from 2.3 in 2022 to 3.1 now.

‘Laptop luggers’ and remote workers also help fuel rise in travel

Among those who are taking trips, there is also a shift in the kinds of things one wants to do while away from home. Crowley and the team behind the report observed an overall increase in interest for “active” vacations. The number of people intending to visit a major attraction during the summer months rose from 42% in 2021 to 49% now while interest in attending a concert or festival also rose from 20% to 25%.

Deloitte also observed similar increases for interest in “active” travel during the colder holiday months.

“When folks do travel, they’re really interested not only in destination activities but local offerings like getting immersed in the local activities and understanding where they are, Crowley said.

Another major category identified by Deloitte is the “laptop lugger.” The term refers to those who can travel remotely and either lead a transient way of life or squeeze some work into their personal trips. The number of people doing work on a personal trip in order to extend how many days they can stay away rose from approximately one in every five in 2022 to one in every three by 2023.

Corporate travel, meanwhile, has been much slower to pick up as companies re-evaluate the worth of sending employees on trips in the current economy. While leisure travel surpassed pre-pandemic levels many months ago, corporate travel is picking up but was still at 80% of what was seen in 2019 by the end of last year.