() — Since the 1970s, Steve Perillo, CEO and third-generation owner of the tour operator Perillo Toursbased in New Jersey, had not seen such a large increase in travelers booking trips to Europe.
The company, which is best known for its customized trips to Italy, typically sells out about 80% of its capacity in a year, Perillo says. So far in 2023, about 96% of the operator’s 500 annual departures, which also include Spain and Greece as destinations, have been booked, and Perillo expects that figure to reach 100% in a few weeks, before the company begins to market its 2024 season.
For Perillo, hints of the successful season ahead began to appear last fall, when the company offered a Black Friday discount of around 5%. “We should have charged more for Black Friday,” he jokes. “That’s when we realized that [la demanda] It was outrageous, and I called all my friends on Black Friday night and said, ‘This is going to be crazy.’”
In many parts of Europe, the madness is already underway, as throngs of Europe-bound tourists follow in the well-trodden footsteps of their 2022 predecessors in last season’s post-Covid-19 lockdown surge.
According to travel insurance provider Allianz Partners, the number of Americans traveling to Europe this summer is expected to increase. 55% compared to last year’s figures, which were already a staggering 600% higher than in 2021. London, Paris and Dublin topped the 2023 list of the 10 most popular destinations revealed by the Allianz annual review; Rome, Reykjavik, Amsterdam and Lisbon also made the top 10.
The European Travel Commission tHe also forecast strong demand for holidays in Europe in 2023.with nearly half of all destinations on the continent expecting a return to more than 80% of 2019 figures.
Of course, all that demand has driven up prices. According to the Hopper flight tracking site, airfare to Europe is at its highest point in five years. Round-trip tickets to the mainland currently average more than $1,200, which is about $300 more than in 2022 (and a 26% increase over pre-pandemic prices in 2019), according to a company spokesperson.
Hotel prices have also risen. According to American Express Global Business Travelhotel prices in Europe will see the biggest increases during 2023. Paris (up 10% year-over-year), Stockholm (9%) and Dublin (8.5%) are among the destinations that AEGBT expects to see the rises higher.
However, those higher prices have not dampened the passion for collective travel. For weeks many European hubs have been packed with tourists, and sold-out hotels, packed museums and overflowing restaurants are becoming more common, especially in in-demand cities like Barcelona, Rome and Paris.
“You could barely move down the street”
Tourists visiting Europe’s top vacation spots can expect to battle the crowds this summer. Michel Christophe/ABACA/Shutterstock
What is especially surprising to some is how early in the season the crowds have arrived. “If I look out the window, it already feels a bit like July,” says Milou Halbesma, dDirector of the Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam, which is located in the former home of the Dutch master.
This spring, the museum unveiled a major renovation that opened the penthouse space to the public, offering “30% more of Rembrandt” to museum visitors, Halbesma says. In anticipation of the “very busy summer” ahead, the museum onboarded five additional employees for July and August and added new visitor services, including a multimedia tour available in 13 languages and a tour specifically for children.
As a whole, the Amsterdam cultural scene is enjoying a moment in the spotlight following the spectacular success of the Vermeer exhibition at the Rijksmuseum that just finished. Art enthusiasts and museum-goers are a travel demographic especially sought after by city officials amid ongoing campaigns to reduce “nuisance tourism” like bachelor and bachelorette parties.
“We are very happy to receive everyone, and we also hope that there will be more cultural tourists and fewer stag parties and groups like these,” says Halbesma. “The people of Amsterdam are the nicest people, the most tolerant and relaxed people in the world. But [los turistas ruidosos] They should behave a bit.”
Meanwhile, in other destinations on the continent, popular shows like HBO’s “The White Lotus” and Netflix’s “Emily in Paris” have also drawn hordes of selfie fans. Searches for flights to cities in Sicily — the idyllic island where the second season of “The White Lotus” was filmed — have soared in triple digits this summer, according to Expedia data, with searches in Messina up 335% and Palermo. by 180%.
Jenn Rice, a North Carolina-based journalist and brand consultant, witnessed that popularity firsthand on a recent trip to Palermo. Rice described the Sicilian capital as “absolutely crazy” in early June, with tourists “filling the streets like it was Mardi Gras.”
“I just haven’t seen that many people on the streets on a Saturday night,” says Rice, who will be touring Europe for three months for the second summer in a row. “You could barely move down the street to get to another bar. People were like sardines, packed everywhere.”
Traditionally popular attractions, monuments and events are also feeling the pull. Perillo says he’s heard stories about tour guides in Rome having to call before a certain weekly deadline just to try to secure reservations for the Colosseum. “People start lining up for the call at midnight just to get a chance,” he says. “Everyone who wants to go to Rome wants to go to the Colosseum.”
In Paris, Arnaud Morandi, general manager of Fauchon L’Hotel Parisa 54-room, five-star boutique property, says visitors hoping to get last-minute tickets to events like the French Open, which is currently underway, major concerts, or reservations at in-demand restaurants should temper expectations.
“It seems like everything has sold out so fast,” says Morandi. “Everything related to entertainment, including fine dining and luxury hotels, is booked well in advance, much earlier than before.”
Fauchon, which opened in 2018, continues to set its own occupancy records with multiple sold-out days for June, July and August. “[La ciudad] It’s not as busy as it will be in a few weeks, but we’re almost there,” says Morandi.
“You just have to be creative”
Some places have been seeing peak season level crowds even at the start of summer. Marc Bruxelle/Alamy Stock Photo
To cope with record crowds and higher costs this summer, many Europe-bound travelers have been forced to adjust their plans. Rice, for example, relies on trains and ferries to avoid “incredibly expensive” flight costs, even on budget airlines like easyJet and Ryanair.
European residents are also feeling the pressure from their own summer vacation plans. Sarah Ferguson, who moved to Amsterdam from South Florida in April 2021 with her husband and four children, has yet to return to the United States with her family because the cost of six plane tickets “just isn’t worth it. so we just tell them all to come here,” he explains.
But traveling across Europe, a huge incentive for the family to move abroad in the first place, has become increasingly prohibitive. Train tickets, a mode of transit that Ferguson and her husband were eager to take advantage of, are often more expensive than airfare.
“Before we moved, we had this idea to show our kids these amazing countries on these wonderful train journeys, and the six of us were going to learn how to pack a bag and go,” says Ferguson. “Unfortunately, that has not been the case at all. During these two years, our expat friends talk all the time that train tickets are more expensive than flights. It’s ridiculous”.
As a result, the family has traded their summer vacations for road trip-style adventures. Ferguson rented two hybrid Toyota Corollas to make the 15-hour drive in August to a campsite in Croatia, which they visited last year and where they will stay in a beachfront villa this time. “We did the tour last year, and it’s beautiful,” she says. “You just have to be creative.”
pola henderson, a dual American and Polish citizen who has lived in Paris for seven years, has also changed the way he travels in Europe. Until recently, Henderson, a travel and content writer, used to take one or two weekend trips to different countries each month. But he’ll be staying closer to home this summer, with weekend trips around France and more exploration of Paris.
“I can’t imagine living without traveling, but now I’m more picky about what I do,” explains Henderson. “But it has been very frustrating… because [viajar] it has become much more difficult and not only in terms of prices, but we also have to plan ahead.”
Time will tell if more frustration awaits travelers in terms of last season’s chaos of flight cancellations, delays and other disruptions. A few setbacks have emerged so far, including ongoing protests in Paris, cast member and union strikes at Disneyland Paris in early June and a failure of passport scanners at Heathrow and other UK airports over a weekend. bank holiday in May. However, the prevailing mood among many travelers seems to be a hybrid of excitement and a “carpe diem” attitude, even in the busiest places.
“You can’t stop going to see these places just because they’re so crowded,” Rice says. “Now there are a lot of people everywhere, so you just have to be a little smarter and do more research. But most importantly, do and see what you want to see, not what others say. I’ve put Venice on this ‘can’t visit because it’s too crowded’ list for years, and this is the year I’m going.”
