Yahoo Finance Travel: ‘We’re seeing a ton of demand,' says Expedia CEO
The travel industry is expected to stay hot this summer. That means no price relief for travelers.
“We’re seeing a ton of demand," Expedia Group (EXPE) CEO Peter Kern told Yahoo Finance Live (video above.)
"Lots of demand domestically, lots of demand internationally...[with] still some tightness in supply in air. Unfortunately, that means prices are going to stay high for the summer," he added.
Kern says some trends have returned to pre-pandemic levels, such as shorter lengths of stays and big cities being popular again.
However, the industry is seeing what appears to be at least one structural change.
"More people want to travel generally. It’s not just revenge travel anymore," said Kern.
In April, United Airlines (UAL) reiterated its full-year guidance indicating “demand remains strong, especially internationally, where we are growing at twice the domestic rate.”
Days later, American Airlines' (AAL) CEO Robert Isom told analysts,"We see a strong demand environment this summer, and we're highly confident that that will continue going forward. If there's one thing that the pandemic has taught us it's that people innately desire to travel."
While retailers like Walmart (WMT) and Target (TGT) have given signs that shoppers are 'trading down' as pocketbooks get squeezed, the travel industry isn't experiencing the same.
"So far, and this is really across the globe, we’re not seeing any real downturn from anything we would all call economic pressure," said Expedia's Peter Kern. "Will it sustain itself forever? Who knows."
"It appears that travel will remain on the top of the list of what people want to spend on," he added.
Ines is a senior business reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter at @ines_ferre
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