Latin America Holidays Respond to Increased Demand

Latin America has always been a favourite for travellers, but increased demand will lead to price increases next year, warns one report.

Cheap holidays in Latin America have long been popular among younger people taking a gap-year or as part of a round-world tour. Spanish speakers naturally find the shared language a great boon when it comes to traversing the huge diversity of Latin American countries – although some come to grief when they discover too late that Portuguese is the official language of Brazil! – and the hospitality of the region is appreciated by all.

Latin America holidays also offer a massive variety of landscapes to the traveller, from the majesty of the Andes and the Inca Trail to the stylish cosmopolitan tango bars of Buenos Aires and the golden beaches of Rio de Janeiro. Internal flights appear ridiculously cheap to western wallets and cheap hotels and hostels abound.

Have a care though – a recent report by Carlson Wagonlit Travel warned that cheap holidays in Latin America will not be as cheap as they once were in 2012. The company’s global 2012 Travel Price Forecast, released this week, found that the cost of hotels, flights, car hire and train travel were all set to increase globally, with the highest percentage rise found in Latin America. Next year, flights to Colombia will be increasing in price by 11.4 per cent, as demand soars and supply contracts – there may be a business opportunity for an enterprising airline there, if anyone’s paying attention!

As Brazil prepares to host the 2014 World Cup, massive infrastructure projects are underway, all with the aim of improving the tourism experience for visitors. Sadly, one downside of this is that hotel prices are set to increase by 24 per cent in the first half of next year and by the end of 2012 they may have increased by some 34 per cent, researchers said.

Luckily price rises are not going to be quite as dramatic elsewhere. The report said that the Asia-Pacific region will remain fairly stable, with only an overall 3.8 per cent increase in air fares next year, while Europe’s flights will only become 3.7 per cent more expensive.