Rising prices and mercury are changing Europe’s travel hot spots this summer

Travellers are increasingly opting to skip Europe’s most-visited cities and beachside locales in favour of less-frequented destinations for summer vacations in 2024.

Fresh data shared with Bloomberg by Chase Travel, a US-based travel booking and rewards platform, shows that cities with the biggest year-on-year tourism increases this summer include destinations such as Brussels, Munich, Zurich and Warsaw.

The data, based on cardmember spending, shows that the most-booked cities are still London, Paris and Rome.

The shifting emphasis towards secondary cities largely reflects surging prices in Mediterranean hot spots like the Amalfi Coast, as well as record heat on the continent, say industry experts. 

Soaring inflation put average luxury room rates in Europe above US$1,700 (S$2,300) in 2023, according to data from Virtuoso, a luxury travel adviser group – almost double 2019’s US$900 figure. 

These record rates are set to climb by an additional 9 per cent this summer, says Ms Misty Belles, Virtuoso’s vice-president for global public relations. This is affecting where people choose to book, she adds. 

“We’re seeing a desire to go to locations or destinations where the rates aren’t so exorbitant,” she says, confirming Chase’s findings.

A search on Google Hotels shows rooms at five-star hotels in Brussels available for less than US$500 during the first week of June.

In Paris, the price is closer to US$900.

Ms Belles also says travellers are willing to try alternate destinations in the face of Europe’s heatwaves.

Last year was the continent’s second-warmest on record, and each month of 2024 has brought further records.

With the mercury having risen to 48 deg C in places such as Sardinia last summer, 24 deg C average highs in Zurich look awfully appealing. And that is without considering the crowds.

“Last summer, Europe was so very crowded, on top of being unbelievably hot,” says Ms Belles.

The combination has made more people seek destinations further north in Europe, she adds, with bookings at Virtuoso to the Netherlands up 33 per cent, bookings to Austria up 31 per cent and those to Germany 26 per cent.

“Don’t worry about Italy, it’s going to be fine,” Ms Belles says. “But other parts of Europe are starting to attract significant numbers.”

One place where growth has triggered concern is Amsterdam.

The city ranks fifth among Chase’s fastest-growing destination cities, despite tourism figures that led the government to launch a “stay away” campaign to discourage mass tourism. 

Ms Rebecca Masri, founder of luxury travel app Little Emperors, has a solution for those dead set on returning to old favourites despite prices, weather and crowds: Go later.

After all, she says, the traditional European summer season no longer feels as if it ends in August. 

As she puts it, “Our high season for places like Italy and Greece is now September.” BLOOMBERG