Over the last couple of years, a great deal of never-seen-before international restrictions conditioned where Americans could travel, but that’s about to change according to experts.
Squaremouth.com, a travel insurance comparison service, examined spring break travel data to uncover patterns that could signal the return of travel to Europe.
The company analytics revealed how the purchase of travel insurance that covers Covid-19 expenses has started to pick up in Europe this spring.
The lack of entry restrictions to Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Costa Rica during the pandemic made these Caribbean destinations a no-brainer for US travelers.
But, now that the Omicron wave has nearly passed in most northern countries, and entry restrictions have been lifted, Europe is re-emerging as a major player in the tourism business.
Thus, this spring break, U.S. tourists will be flocking to Europe for the first time since the pandemic struck.
In the last two years, Italy dropped from second to tenth most visited European country.
With 4% of all holiday trips booked on Squaremouth.com, Italy has begun to reclaim its appeal as a major EU destination this spring break. Only Mexico (11.6%) and the U.S. (19%) will have a higher percentage of travelers.
France and Spain have also made a comeback to the top ten lists, after the US Virgin Islands, Aruba and Jamaica which were thousands of miles closer to the US and had fewer Covid restrictions took their first spots on the travel industry.
Domestic travel is still higher than usual for spring break.
In 2020, domestic travel accounted for 90 percent of all trips. However, it has begun to display a downward trend now that the normality has started to return. It is still higher than it was prior to the pandemic.
Squaremouth observed that 23% of spring break travels are remaining stateside this year compared to 13% in 2019.