Americans Are Leveraging the Strong Dollar with Holiday Travel Plans to Europe

Many Americans dream of a holiday vacation to Europe to explore the culture and history of the continent, and the strong exchange rate of U.S. currency has spurred a renaissance for overseas holiday travel. Major capital cities continue to attract travelers following a two-year pause, according to the Allianz Partners 2022 European Holiday Destination Index, and several locations will experience a significant rise in holiday visitation this year.

Allianz Partners USA reviewed more than 608,000 travel itineraries* across the peak holiday travel period to highlight the season’s most popular European destinations for 2022. Roundtrip flights departing from United States airports between Wednesday, November 23, 2022, and Thursday, January 5, 2023, were considered.

London continues to dominate the travel scene, far and away the most-popular city to visit this holiday season and capturing the hearts of nearly double those headed to the City of Lights which holds steady in second this year. Madrid moves up to round out the top three, jumping two spots from the last index, and with other minor shifts in the Top 10 positions. Most notably, four European cities in the Top 20 are seeing triple-digit increases in travelers expected for this holiday season. Lisbon (Portugal) cracks the Top 10 while Athens (Greece), Copenhagen (Denmark) and Stockholm (Sweden) each move up as many as nine positions from their previous spots.

“While inflation has caused the prices of almost everything to soar, travelers have seen the value of the dollar also surge, gain parity with the Euro and the pound, and boost their holiday budgets,” says Daniel Durazo, director of external communications at Allianz Partners USA. “Even so, most of us can’t afford to lose what we’ve invested for these big holiday trips, making a travel insurance policy the best gift to add to your holiday shopping list. It can provide peace of mind by safeguarding pre-paid travel investments from covered unexpected events like trip cancellations or interruptions, travel delays, baggage issues or even medical emergencies.”

In March 2021, Allianz Partners announced enhancements** to many of its travel insurance products in most states through an Epidemic Coverage Endorsement. Products that include this endorsement may provide coverage to customers who become ill with COVID-19 or a future epidemic, are individually ordered to quarantine, or are denied boarding due to a suspected illness. These products also may cover emergency medical care and transportation or provide reimbursement for change fees and loyalty points deposit fees if the customer becomes ill with an epidemic disease. Availability of the Epidemic Coverage Endorsement, and specific covered reasons under that endorsement, varies by product and by state. See your plan for details.

Allianz Partners offers travel insurance through most major U.S. airlines, leading travel agents, online travel agencies, hotel companies, cruise lines and directly to consumers. For more information on Allianz and available travel policies, please visit http://www.allianztravelinsurance.com/.