According to a report by priceline.com, holiday airfares this year are up by almost 4 percent when compared to the prices of last year.
The festive season is always a time to travel and airlines expecting good business during this time of the year. Taking the most advantage of this, most airlines hike up their airfares for the month of December. However a report by priceline.com suggests that holiday airfares this year are up by almost 4% when compared to the prices of last year. And this finding is based only on the last two weeks of round-trip domestic ticket sales on priceline.com
According to the report, "the national average holiday airfare is $469 this year" which was "an average of $444 for holiday tickets" last year. And last year, if tickets were purchased as early as October, the average came up to $430.
"We are now bumping up against that 21-day advance purchase window for airline tickets," said priceline.com's in-house Travel Ekspert Brian Ek. "Typically, tickets are more expensive when the departure date is less than 21 days away, and they keep moving upward as the departure date gets closer. For anyone who still has to buy holiday air tickets, the message is simple - the clock is ticking."
In spite of this hike in price, it hasn't stopped travels from flying internationally as well. And it doesn't seem like the rise in price is going to stop travellers from travelling in future too. The World Travel & Tourism Council has predicted that the end of 2012 will see the number of international tourists reach the one billion mark.
"This is an astounding milestone," David Scowsill, president of the council, said in a telephone interview. "There is an inexorable growth in the number of people who want to travel around the world."
