Top Five Travel Trends of 2023: International Travel Back in Full Force, But at a Higher Cost

Last Updated: December 19, 2022May 22, 2023

ST. PETERSBURG Fla., December 19, 2022 — 2023 will see international travel recover at a faster pace despite increasing prices, as travelers shake concerns from the pandemic and plan bigger trips. 

Travel insurance marketplace Squaremouth.com analyzed booking trends to identify five key 2023 travel predictions. 

2023 Will Mark the Full Recovery of International Travel

• Nearly 90% of insured travel was for international destinations, marking the first time international travel matched pre-pandemic levels. 
• Squaremouth anticipates a high demand for international trips to continue in 2023.

Antarctica Will Be a Top Destination for the First Time in 2023

With international travel back, bigger trips to more adventurous destinations will trend in 2023. 

• Preliminary 2023 trip data shows Antarctica is a top destination for the first time ever.
• Other top destinations early in 2023 include Israel, Costa Rica, France, Spain, and Japan.

Top Insured Destinations for 2023

Travelers Primed to Spend at Least 25% More on Travel  

With lingering economic uncertainties, travelers are becoming more budget conscious and changing their spending habits. 

• Travel is getting more expensive, and will continue to increase in 2023. Travelers spent an average of 25.53% more on trips in 2022 compared to pre-pandemic figures.
• Millennials are feeling the most price pressure, spending an average of 40% more on trips compared to 2019.   

Older Travelers Return

Older travelers have returned to pre-pandemic numbers going into 2023. Squaremouth expects Millennials and Gen Z will continue to purchase travel insurance at a higher rate than 2019.

• Over 60% of travel insurance buyers are born before 1980, which includes Generation X and the Baby Boomer generation. Collectively, this group is expected to spend over $2 billion on travel in 2023. Throughout the pandemic, these demographics saw the largest drop off.
• Millennials and Gen Zers grew their market share of travel insurance purchases by over 15%.

Travelers Will Worry Less about Coronavirus, and More About Airlines

Due to aviation-related travel disruptions in 2022, Trip Cancellation and Travel Delay are becoming bigger concerns for travelers going into 2023. 

• Searches for travel insurance including COVID-related coverage dropped by around 2% in 2022, while searches for Cancel for Any Reason dropped by nearly 3% from 2021, and almost 9% compared to 2020. 
• Trip Delay coverage had the biggest increase of all searches, due in part to airline flight cancellation issues.

Methodology: Squaremouth analytics compared travel insurance policy sales for trips being insured between January 1 and December 5, 2022. To determine the top insured destinations for 2023, Squaremouth analytics analyzed all plans purchased by December 5, 2022 for travel between January 1 and December 31, 2023. 

Notes to editors

Travelers can quote, compare, and buy travel insurance for their holiday travel on Squaremouth.com. Squaremouth sells over 90 plans from 20+ providers, and offers the largest portfolio of products offering coverage related to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Available Topic Expert: Megan Moncrief, Chief Marketing Officer, and Joe Cortez, Travel Expert & Analyst, are available for comment and interview. Contact jcortez@squaremouth.com to arrange an interview. 

Squaremouth maintains a list of country insurance requirements here: https://www.squaremouth.com/destinations

About Squaremouth: Squaremouth.com has insured over 2 million travelers. Using Squaremouth’s intuitive quoting and comparison engine, award-winning support team, and verified customer reviews, travelers can save time and money to find the best travel insurance policy for their trip.