Rising inflation, surging interest rates, what chance does travel have
as people’s budgets shrink and discretionary spending slumps?
The
answer is, according to Collinson, which operates the Priority Pass
airport experiences programme, “despite everything, people still want to
travel as much as before”.
So much so, regular travellers are prepared to give up other pursuits
– such as the gym, their streaming service, retail purchases and visits
to restaurant – to be able to hop on a plane or a cruise ship.
A Collinson global survey of Priority Pass frequent flyer members
found that just over a fifth (21%) said they would be willing to cancel a
streaming service, so they could afford to go on a trip this year,
while nearly a third said they would cut back on going to restaurants
(30%), and over a quarter (26%) were prepared to cancel their gym
memberships.
“All of which shows that – despite the rising costs of inflation and
the looming travel challenges – people are willing to forego it all,
just to escape from it all,” Collinson noted.
When it came to reasons for travel, Collinson found members were more
likely to travel for leisure (45%) than for business (35%).
“This is actually a big shift towards leisure travel, and one that’s
happened as a result of the pandemic, given the split was even when we
asked the same question about travel in 2020 (39% vs 39%),” said
Collinson joint CEO, Dave Evans.
Evans said the research suggested that as a cost-of-living crisis
looms in many parts of the world, travel spend is way down the list of
things that people will consider cutting from their household budget.
The number of trips taken by Priority Pass has already reached 80% of pre-pandemic figures.
“Some experts thought it would take years to get back to this
frequency – and it is especially remarkable given the current economic
landscape,” Evans said.