If you’ve traveled this summer you might have noticed that the airports have been more crowded than usual, it’s harder to get accommodations or that there’s a lot of people visiting your destination. That’s because international travel is up this summer. Through the end of August it’s expected that about 500 million people will have traveled to a foreign country since May. To put it in perspective only about 332 people traveled overseas between January and April.
Travel Oversees Has Been Steadily Rising
Since 2010, overseas travel has been going up each year by about 4% and is expected to grow over the next several years. As the economy has gotten better many people have been taking those vacations that they have been putting off. Traveling is also becoming more convenient. With everything from a wider variety of destinations to more comfortable plane rides, traveling has become a much more pleasurable experience than it was even just 10 years ago. This may be part of the reason why more people don’t mind taking sometimes long journeys to visit a foreign country.
With Everything, There Are Drawbacks
While all of these tourists can be great for struggling local economies there are some drawbacks to the rise in overseas travelers, especially for travelers themselves. Hotels and restaurants are often booked and a lot of tourist attractions are facing very large crowds. This can lead to annoyed travelers, long wait times and last minute changes in travel plans.
What You Can Do
Fortunately many of the crowds will be dying down soon as peak travel too many places is just about over. If you want to avoid the crowds you can wait to do any overseas traveling until the fall. If you do find yourself in an airport in the next couple of weeks, be prepared to wait longer than normal and face long lines. When overseas, you can avoid some of the crowds by visiting some of the lesser known tourist attractions. You can also take a tour to ensure that you can see what you want while you are on vacation. If you want to go overseas, but don’t want to wait until the fall, try visiting a country such as Africa where tourism is actually down slightly. We can advise you of some less crowded places to go and when the best time to visit them is.
