The holiday prices for 2024 are the most expensive in recent years

Summer has arrived and everyone is planning or has already booked their summer vacation. Most of you have undoubtedly raised your eyebrows when checking the prices of hotels, apartments or campsites, flights and also tourist packages, because these are the products whose prices have increased the most in recent months.

The data of the Consumer price index offered by the National Institute of Statistics regarding the month May is clear: So far this year, hotels have become more expensive by 24.9%, flights in general by 6.6%, campsites by 4.7% and national tourist packages by 4.9%.

Yes We compare this data with that of May last yearWe will see that hotels are 9.4% more expensive, campsites are 4.7% more expensive and national tourist packages are 17.7% more expensive. But what has increased the most compared to 2023 is the transport of people by sea, namely 22.2%. On the other hand, international flights and international tourist packages are slightly cheaper than in May 2023; their prices have fallen by 7.5% and 0.6% respectively.

The pandemic: a before and after

The Covid-19 pandemic marked a before and after in the tourism industry. Due to the restrictions imposed, Prices of hotels, accommodations in general, flights, etc. experienced a sharp decline from July 2020 to June 2021. For example, hotel prices have fallen by 20% for several months.

However, this trend changed in July 2021 and the monthly price increases were especially sharp in 2022. In April, May and June of that year, hotel prices rose between 45% and 51% each month compared to the previous month. Hotel prices continued to rise in 2023, albeit to a lesser extent, and will continue on the same path in 2024. Therefore, it can be said that hotel prices They have more than overcome the decline prices that suffered from the pandemic.

In terms of flights, the biggest increases occurred in 2023 due to increases in airport taxes and fuel prices.

All this indicates that we are dealing with the most expensive holidays in history. However, this price increase is largely caused by the existing demand. In the words of Lore Uranga, head of the BQD office in Zumaia, we live “in a situation of seize the day and people want to travel and go on vacation.” If before the pandemic the budget was set in relation to the place they wanted to visit, now it is of course the other way around: First you set a budget, then you choose the destination.

In his words, all destinations and all types of accommodation have increased their prices, but at the moment it is different places that are cheaper. In particular, it recommends traveling by charter flights from Basque airports to destinations such as Albania, Slovenia or Cape Verde.