After almost two years where foreign travel has taken a backseat due to the pandemic, many of us are gearing up to book and take those long-overdue trips. But in 2022, following the biggest shakeup the tourism industry has experienced in decades, what will have changed? UK-based ABTA – The Travel Association, has tracked booking trends and used consumer surveys to create its Travel in 2022 report. Here, we outline its six main predictions. 

According to ABTA’s research, almost half (49%) of those surveyed said that holidays were more important to them than before, since COVID had limited opportunities for travel. But we’re not just more excited to get travelling: almost half of us are willing to spend more money on trips. Meanwhile, booking trends indicate many of us are upgrading to more luxurious hotels, extending our stays or choosing a more expensive destination to begin with. If you ever needed a sign to treat yourself, this is it.

The pandemic has meant a lot more red tape – from taking COVID tests to filling out passenger locator forms – and it can get pretty overwhelming. So it’s perhaps no surprise that people are 30% more likely to book holidays with a travel agent now than before COVID. Travel agents say first-time bookings are on the rise: more than half of Hays Travel’s business has come from new customers since 2021, while outdoors specialists Inghams say more than 60% of travellers are booking with them for the first time.

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In a similar vein, 27% of us are more likely to book a package holiday now than before the pandemic. Of those, 39% cited financial protection as a key reason, while 37% say the fact that everything would be taken care of is the motivating factor for them.

After a long period which many of us have spent with our spouses or immediate families, it’s no wonder that many of us are keen to reconnect with other loved ones. In the past year, 61% of holidaymakers travelled to visit friends and family, compared with just 25% in a normal year. Meanwhile easyJet Holidays has reported that 25% of UK holidaymakers are looking to book trips with their extended families and Henbury Travel has seen a spike in grandparents booking trips for their younger relatives too. 

In 2011, just one-fifth of us said that the green credentials of our holiday provider were important – a decade on, that’s increased to more than half (54%). Attitudes are changing, with 55% of people believing travel operators should become greener post-pandemic, while 38% of us are willing to pay more to use a more eco-friendly stay. Pictured is Bucuti & Tara Resort, on Aruba in the Caribbean, one of the world's best eco hotels. 

Thankfully for cruise operators, coronavirus doesn’t seem to have made a long-lasting dent on the industry. More than a third (36%) of us have been on a cruise and a quarter of new passengers would go on one again, up from 21% in 2020. Cruise companies are taking note, too, with a total of 26 new ships setting sail in 2022, including the world’s largest, Royal Caribbean’s 1,188-foot-long (362m) Wonder of the Seas (pictured).

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