01 / Introduction

“Revenge travel” – the desire to travel more, further and for longer after being unable to during the covid-19 pandemic – continued into 2023, after starting in 2021. The phrase began as a tongue-in-cheek concept on social media, but such attitudes are being reflected in travel data.

Travel to the UK has almost recovered to pre-pandemic levels. Visit Britain’s latest inbound forecast for travel to the UK in 2023 is 37.5 million visits – 92% of 2019’s visitor figures. Travellers are forecast to have spent £30.9bn in the UK this year, 90% of the 2019 spend in real terms, after taking inflation into account.

After long periods of being tethered to home, consumers from both the leisure and business sectors are also now willing to pay more for a better hotel experience. The deep room rate cuts offered during the pandemic have largely been replaced with a return to higher rates. Occupancy levels and business and events bookings have also climbed back up. This means the hotels sector, which suffered greatly in the pandemic, is enjoying a return to normality.

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