Travel from UK to US continues to decline, finds Kayak.co.uk

Overall demand for travel from the UK to the US continues to decline apart from a few exceptions, new data reveals. Although the ‘Trump effect’ is not specifically mentioned in the annual flights index complied by Kayak.co.uk, the study shows … Continue reading →

Overall demand for travel from the UK to the US continues to decline apart from a few exceptions, new data reveals.

Although the ‘Trump effect’ is not specifically mentioned in the annual flights index complied by Kayak.co.uk, the study shows a continuing downward trend from last year when the president entered office.

Only Houston and Denver have seen a year-on-year rise in demand while the biggest declines are recorded from Philadelphia, San Francisco, Orlando, Las Vegas and Washington.

The travel search site said: “Looking internationally at destinations outside of Europe, the Texan city of Houston has seen its popularity rocket the most in 2017, with demand up 46%.

“This is perhaps most interesting as it bucks the trend of other US destinations, which are down in popularity almost across the board.

“For example, looking at traditionally popular destinations, San Francisco is down 12%, Orlando is down 11%, and Las Vegas is down 10% – a downward trend for the US which was also noted last year and shows little sign of turning around for now.”

However, New York remains the top destination overall, despite a 9% decrease in popularity compared to last year.

Amsterdam is second followed by Barcelona, Bangkok and Dubai despite a big fall in demand to the emirate compared to 2016.

Male in the Maldives suffered the steepest decline in popularity, with demand down by nearly half (43%). This coincided with flight prices rising by 33% to an average of £692.

“It appears this may have priced many travellers out of the exotic and far-flung destination,” Kayak said.

“When looking at the global destinations whose popularity has fallen the most, the standout names are Dubai and Hong Kong, which are both in the bottom five. Demand for Dubai in 2017 was down a huge 24% whilst demand for Hong Kong fell by 20%.”

Company spokesman Neil Cartwright said: “A key trend is the continued decline in demand for travel to the USA – something we have been noticing since last year.

“However, it would seem that the USA’s loss is Australia’s gain, with demand to key cities in the country up. This would suggest that many Brits are choosing Australia over the States for their ‘big’ long-haul annual holiday.”

He added: “Another trend is that Brits appear to have been chasing the value in 2017.

“A lot of the destinations which saw the biggest increases in demand also had some of the largest falls in price, and destinations whose price increased considerably saw demand tail off. This suggests Brits are becoming increasingly price-savvy.”