Google Search for European Cities Rises as A4A Says Demand is Up

There’s more evidence that the summer of 2022 is going to challenge unprecedented levels of tourism, especially via air travel.

According to our sister publication Travel Weekly, Google has found that searches for international cities – especially in Europe – and passport appointments have risen dramatically.

At the same time, Airlines for America’s Nick Calio, president and CEO of the industry’s largest trade group, says demand is also up now that restrictions and protocols once in place because of COVID-19 are being lifted around the world, including the federal transportation mask mandate in the U.S.

Google put together a list of the top 20 destinations people are searching for, and five of them were from Europe – Paris, London, Rome, Athens and Lisbon. At this time last year, the only international city on the list of the 20 most searched travel destination terms was Cancun.

Not a single European city was on last year’s list.

Searches for passport appointments grew by more than 300 percent in the first quarter of 2022 and interest in luxury hotels also surged.

Other trends included: “girls trip destinations,” “good bachelor party ideas,” “singles cruises” and “best babymoon destinations usa.”

Calio, speaking at a conference, it’s been a terrible two years for airlines but bookings are finally up.

“People want to fly. Leisure demand is back to about where it was in 2019, which is probably a little quicker than we expected it,” Calio said. “International travel is picking up as restrictions are lifted, which is something we should be doing in the United States. But if you look at the United Kingdom, if you look across the European Union, if you look at Latin and South America, a lot of the testing requirements, potential quarantines all have been lifted, and it’s easing the ability to travel.”