Americans are poised to travel overseas in a big way in 2023.
Households are continuing to unleash two or three years’ worth of pent-up demand as Covid-19 fears wane and the last vestiges of pandemic-era border restrictions have eased.
The U.S. dollar also remains relatively strong versus currencies like the euro, hybrid work yields more flexibility for big trips and some airlines have added new long-haul routes to overseas destinations, according to travel experts.
Thirty-one percent of Americans are more interested in international than domestic travel, according to a recent poll by tourism market research firm Destination Analysts. That was a six-point increase from February and a year-to-date high, according to the survey, published in November.
Meanwhile, 62% of 2023 flight searches in the first week of December were for international destinations, up from 55% the same time last year, according to a recent Hopper report. It cited international travel among the top three trends for 2023, saying it’s poised “for a big comeback.”
Searches on Kayak for flights abroad are up 1.3% versus a year ago, according to company data as of Dec. 18. Those for domestic flights were down 13%.
In 2022, the share of international trips for which Americans bought travel insurance was on par with 2019 levels, the first time that had occurred in the pandemic era, according to data from online travel insurance marketplace Squaremouth. The trend has continued for trips booked for 2023.
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