Spring vacation bookings are surging from a desire to escape cold weather, loosening travel restrictions, and increasing comfort with traveling again.
According to Guesty, the world’s leading short-term and vacation rental property management platform, the number of reservations for Spring Break 2022 is 92% higher than last year and 283% higher than 2020 across major travel sites such as Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, and Expedia.
Expect to See Crowds in These Top Spring Travel Destinations
While the past two years saw U.S. road trip vacations on the rise, in 2022 U.S. travelers are venturing farther from home, seeking warm weather, and booking international trips. As a result, more Americans are packing their bags for 2022 spring travel to these destinations than others.
A Rise In International Travel
The relatively new option to extend trips and work remotely plus years of domestic-only travel is driving an increase in international vacations and the return of iconic global destinations. Q4 2021 Airbnb global bookings increased to 35% from 20% at the beginning of 2021. Additionally, international cities dominate Airbnb’s Top 15 trending destinations for spring travel. U.S. travelers are booking March and April trips to Paris, Florence, Rome, Madrid, Whistler, Mexico City, Barcelona, Porto Portugal, Amsterdam, and London.
Family Travel Is Springing Back in 2022
If you’ve seen sky-high prices for flights and accommodations, it’s due to demand. One out of every 3 Americans will be traveling for Spring Break this year. Families are favoring destinations with warm weather, beaches, kid-friendly attractions, and theme parks.
Florida makes up half of these destinations, with Orlando claiming not just the top spot for Airbnb family bookings but the top spring break destination for all North American travelers. Other popular family spots include Phoenix, Maui, Oahu, and the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee, America’s most visited National Park.
One-of-A-Kind Accommodations
After two years of pandemic living and working from home, people want to break up the monotony of everyday life. Some of the top wish-listed Airbnb properties for 2022 aren’t your average condo or home rental. They’re nature retreats, a house with a 30-foot swing, and an off-the-grid desert Earthship in Taos, New Mexico, to name a few.
These bookings, such as RVs, earth houses, tiny houses, and luxe treehouses, have doubled compared to Spring 2021. For example, people can book a stay in a stunning A-Frame Utah cabin with views of Zion, a one-bedroom tiny cliff home suspended on the side of Kentucky’s Red River Gorge Ridgeline, or a Lord of The Rings-style Hobbit Cottage near Bryce Canyon, Brian Head, and Zion National Park in Utah.
Top Spring Destinations for Snowbirds
The idea of snowbirds traveling south each winter in search of warmer weather isn’t new. What’s changing, though, is how they are doing it. Instead of buying a condo or renting a place for the winter season via a lease, more people are turning to Airbnb for their warm-weather home-like accommodations.
In the past 12 months, bookings by older guests have grown 20 percent on Airbnb. In the past two years, they’ve seen a 90 percent increase in the number of bookings by this age group for long-term stays.
What’s not changing is their preferred destinations. South & Central Florida Gulf Coast towns; South Florida’s Atlantic Coast communities; Orlando and Phoenix, continue to be the most preferred destinations for older guests.
2022 Travel Will Usher in a Travel Revolution
As we look to travel trends for the balance of the year, the Live Anywhere trend driven by unprecedented levels of remote-work policies will continue to play out. No longer tied to an office, people have started to embrace a new lifestyle that combines travel, work, and life.
According to Airbnb, “more people will start living abroad, others will travel for the entire summer, and some will even give up their leases and become digital nomads.” One hundred seventy-five thousand people booked Airbnb stays of three months or longer last year, and the company’s fastest-growing category is long-term stays of 28 nights or more.
This article was produced and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.
Featured Image Credit: Airbnb.