[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text dp_text_size=”size-4″]According to Perillo, the company, which is best known for its personalised tours to Italy, typically sells around 80% of its capacity in a year. So far in 2023, around 96% of the operator’s 500 annual departures, which include countries such as Spain and Greece, are booked – and Perillo anticipates that percentage to reach 100% within a few weeks, before the company begins marketing for the 2024 season.
Perillo, signs of a blockbuster season ahead began to show last autumn, when the company gave a 5% Black Friday discount. “We should have charged more for Black Friday,” he jokingly remarks. “That’s when we realised [demand] was out of control, and I called all my friends on Black Friday night and said, ‘This is going to be crazy.'”
The madness is already well beginning in many parts of Europe, as hordes of Europe-bound visitors follow in the well-trodden footsteps of their 2022 forefathers in last season’s post-Covid lockdown boom.
According to Allianz Partners, the number of Americans travelling to Europe this summer is likely to increase by 55% over last year’s data, which were already 600% higher than in 2021. London, Paris, and Dublin topped Allianz’s yearly list of the top ten most popular destinations in 2023; Rome, Reykjavik, Amsterdam, and Lisbon also made the list.
The European Travel Commission anticipated robust demand for European vacations in 2023, with nearly half of the continent’s resorts expecting more than 80% of 2019 figures.
Of course, all of this demand has caused prices to skyrocket. Flights to Europe are at a five-year high, according to the flight tracking website Hopper. According to a firm spokeswoman, roundtrip tickets to the continent are currently averaging more than $1,200, which is around $300 more than in 2022 (and a 26% increase from pre-pandemic costs in 2019).
Hotel rates have also risen. According to American Express Global Business Travel, hotel prices in Europe will rise the most in 2023. Paris (increasing 10% year on year), Stockholm (up 9%), and Dublin (8.5%) are among the destinations where AEGBT expects the most growth.
Those increasing prices, however, haven’t hindered the public’s desire to travel. Many European hubs have been swamped with tourists for weeks, and sold-out hotels, full museums, and overflowing restaurants have become increasingly typical, particularly in high-demand destinations like Barcelona, Rome, and Paris.
‘You could hardly move down the street.’
Some people are surprised at how early in the season the throng have arrived. “If I look out the window, it already feels like July,” says Milou Halbesma, director of Amsterdam’s Rembrandt House Museum, which is housed in the Dutch master’s former home.
This April, the museum opened the attic room to the public, offering “30% more Rembrandt” to museum visitors, according to Halbesma. In preparation for a “very busy summer,” the museum has hired five additional employees for July and August and introduced new visitor services, such as a multimedia tour available in 13 languages and a children’s tour.
Following the stunning success of the Rijksmuseum’s just concluded Vermeer display, Amsterdam’s cultural scene as a whole is enjoying a time in the spotlight. City officials are particularly interested in art enthusiasts and museum visitors as part of continuing attempts to eliminate “nuisance tourism” such as bachelor and bachelorette parties.
“We’re delighted to welcome everyone, and we hope to see more cultural tourists and fewer stag parties and groups like this,” Halbesma says. “People in Amsterdam are the nicest, most tolerant, and relaxed people on the planet.” However, [loud tourists] should behave a little better.”
“I just haven’t seen that many people on a street on a Saturday night,” says Rice, who is spending the second summer in a row travelling around Europe for three months. “It was difficult to pass through the street to go to another bar. People were crammed in everywhere like sardines.”
Historically popular attractions, landmarks, and events are also feeling the squeeze. According to Perillo, he has heard accounts about tour guides in Rome having to phone by a set weekly deadline merely to acquire reservations for the Coliseum. “People start lining up at midnight on the call just to have a shot,” he says. “Everyone who goes to Rome wants to see the Coliseum.”
Arnaud Morandi, general manager of Fauchon L’Hôtel Paris, a five-star, 54-room boutique property in Paris, advises visitors hoping to secure last-minute tickets for events such as the French Open, which is currently underway, major concerts or reservations at in-demand restaurants to keep their expectations in check.
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“It seems like everything has sold out so quickly,” Morandi observes. “Everything dealing with leisure, including fine dining and luxury hotels, is booked so far in advance, much earlier than before.”
Fauchon, which opened in 2018, continues to break occupancy records, with numerous sold-out days already scheduled for June, July, and August. “[The city] isn’t as busy as it will be in a few weeks,” Morandi says, “but we’re almost there.”
‘You just have to be inventive.’
Many European travellers have had to change their plans this summer in order to deal with record-breaking crowds and higher prices. Rice, for example, avoids “insanely expensive” flight prices by taking trains and ferries, even on bargain carriers like easyJet and Ryanair.
Europeans are also feeling the pinch when it comes to summer vacation plans. Sarah Ferguson, who relocated to Amsterdam from South Florida with her husband and four sons in April 2021, has yet to return to the United States with her family since the expense of six airline tickets “is just not worth it, so we just tell everyone to come here,” she adds.
Travelling around Europe, which was a significant reason for the family’s move overseas in the first place, has gotten increasingly expensive. Train tickets, which Ferguson and her husband wanted to use more frequently, are frequently more expensive than flight.
“Before we moved, we had this idea that we were going to show our kids these awesome countries on these amazing train trips, and all six of us were going to learn how to pack one bag and just go,” Ferguson says. “Unfortunately, that has not been the case. Throughout these two years, our expat friends have constantly complained about how much more expensive train tickets are than flying. It’s ludicrous.
As a result, the family’s summer holidays have turned to road trip-style activities. Ferguson rented two hybrid Toyota Corollas for the 15-hour drive in August to a Croatian camping destination they visited last year and will stay in a beachfront home this time. “We did the drive last year, and it’s really beautiful,” she says. “You just have to get creative.”
Pola Henderson, a dual US-Polish citizen who has resided in Paris for seven years, has similarly changed the way she travels across Europe. Henderson, a content and travel writer, used to take one or two weekend trips to different locations every month until lately. However, she is staying closer to home this summer, with only weekend travels.
“I can’t imagine living without travel,” Henderson says, “but I’m more picky about what I do now.” “But it’s been extremely frustrating… because [travel] has become much more difficult, not only in terms of cost, but also in terms of having to plan far in advance.”
Time will tell whether travellers will face additional aggravation as a result of last season’s mayhem of airline cancellations, delays, and other interruptions. So far, there have been a few snags, including continuous protests in Paris and union and cast member strikes at Disneyland Paris in early June. as well as the failure of passport scanners at Heathrow and other UK airports over a May holiday weekend. Even in the busiest of places, the prevalent tone among many travellers seemed to be a mix of exhilaration and a “carpe diem” mentality.
“You can’t just stay away from these places because they’re crowded,” Rice explains. “Now that everything is crowded, you just have to be a little smarter and do more research.” Most crucial, do and see what you want to see rather than what everyone else is doing. I’ve had Venice on my ‘can’t visit; too crowded list’ for years, and this is the year I’m going to change my mind.”
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