Travel Web sites say average spring break airfares up, but hotel rates down

By AP
Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Spring break travel: Airfares up, hotel rates down

NEW YORK — Average airfares for spring break are up from last year but hotel rates are down, according to data from Bing Travel and Travelocity.

Travelocity found average airfares are up 9 percent compared to last year, with the average domestic roundtrip flight at about $351, while hotel prices are down to an average nightly rate of about $156, a 3 percent decrease from last year.

Travelocity also crunched data for spring break for this season and came up with this list of top 10 destinations based on actual bookings: Orlando was No. 1, followed by other South Florida destinations, then Las Vegas, Phoenix, Cancun, New York, Fort Myers (Fla.); Los Angeles; Tampa-St. Petersburg; and Washington.

Bing Travel found that the week of March 22 is the most expensive time to travel between the end of winter and early April, but Tuesday-to-Tuesday and Wednesday-to-Wednesday trips are cheaper than traveling on Fridays or weekends.

Bing Travel also looked at airfare and hotel data for individual spring break destinations and found that average airfare from the U.S. to Cancun is up 23 percent over last year, from $346 to $427, but average hotel rates are down year over year, from $220 in 2009 to $198 a night this year.

Total average cost of a trip to Cancun with airfare and seven nights in a hotel for two people, according to Bing, is up just slightly this spring, to $2,243 versus $2,231 last year.

For Miami, Bing Travel says fares are also up, 21 percent this year from last year, to $292 versus $242. For travel to nearby Fort Lauderdale, Fla., airfares are up about 15 percent year over year, $257 from $224. Average hotel rates for Miami-Fort Lauderdale are down, however, to $200 a night this year from $248 last year.

Bing estimates that total average cost of a trip for two to Florida, including airfares and seven nights in a hotel, is down 12 percent, from $2,188 to $1,917.

If Maui is your dream destination, airfare to the Hawaiian island is up 3 percent this year over last, according to Bing Travel, to $571 from $553, but again, hotel rates are down, this time a substantial 20 percent, from $321 last year to $257 this year. As a result, total trip cost for seven nights and airfare for two is down 12 percent from last year, to $2,944 from $3,354.

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