FLYR's Q2 2024 State of Hospitality Report

Paris Olympics travel, summer destinations and more

Summer is heating up (or cooling down, depending on where you’re reading from) and with this time of the year comes one of the busiest times to travel. Looking at these trends can help us make sense of our behaviors, the influences of travel decision-making, and predict years to come.

In this first edition of FLYR’s quarterly State of Hospitality Report, we dive into the biggest trends we’re seeing across our hospitality data, illustrating how travelers all over the world are planning their stays. Supporting hotels, motels, and hostels across 50 countries, we’ve reviewed anonymized booking data from June to August 2024 and June to August 2023 to identify how some of the biggest travel trends for the year are shaking out.

This summer, travelers from the United States have their sights set on Europe, Asia and Oceania, with particular interest in the UK, France and the Netherlands. These trends don’t represent a major departure from U.S. travelers’ habits in 2023, which were dominated by European travel as well.

Looking at thousands of hotels around the world, in 2024, Americans are planning their excursions in the UK, the Netherlands, France, Germany and Spain (looking at the months of June-August). 2023’s trend list was closely comparable, indicating that Europe is still a prime location for Americans looking for a change of scenery to explore.

Countries Compete

As many of us will be tuning into the 2024 Olympics from our homes, some superfans have mapped out their summer travels to watch their favorite athletes compete in person in Paris, France.

Hotels located in Paris, France are seeing a 50% average increase in occupancies from July 26 through August 11 in 2024, compared to the same dates in 2023, and a very high expectancy to sell out over this period.

Of course, many French locals and folks from neighboring countries, including the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland, are booking up spots in Paris to be closer to the action.

Zooming out, fans from the United States and Australia are flocking across oceans in droves to see their team compete. Interestingly, while both Australia has nearly 200 fewer athletes competing in the games this year, Australian travelers booked over four times as many rooms compared to U.S. travelers per capita, based on 2023 population estimates. Other top visitors are from Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and China.

Flying us to places we’ve never been

Of course, travelers aren’t only saying bon voyage to the United States for the Olympics. Another interesting indication of travel trends follows Taylor Swift’s “Eras,” world tour, with several shows throughout Europe this summer. In 2023, headlines around the economic impact of Taylor Swift’s popular tours were prevalent, so we were not surprised to see that travel trends for 2024 indicate increased amounts of tourism in cities with Swift shows according to the data available.

Over the course of Taylor Swift’s three show dates in Amsterdam (July 4-July 6, 2024), we saw an average occupancy increase of around 20% compared to 2023 dates, with similar boosts in Milan (July 13, 2024) and London (August 15-August 20, 2024). Is this increase purely attributable to the Swifties? We’ll be interested to see in coming years if tourism increases sustain around these dates, or if the spectacle of a leading musician is truly to thank for these trends.

As more of our day-to-day activities become mediated by technology, the most important moments in modern life still require moving – whether that’s traveling to an important business meeting, trying to make life-long memories, or seeing a loved one for the last time. Travel is only expected to grow, so we’re following along with these trends to help our customers, and in turn voyagers around the world, create experiences that will be cherished for years to come.

Thanks for following along with our insights into the Summer of 2024. Like what you learned? We’ll share our insights on all travel trends on a quarterly basis.