A new study reveals that accommodation prices have dropped more than 17 % since the pandemic.
Tour operator Dertour has released the 2020 Hotel Price Index with Johannesburg, South Africa ranking 56 out of 75.
According to a press statement, the dataset reveals the current cost of a range of hotel and vacation homes in 75 popular destinations, including a 2019 price comparison looking at pre-Covid19 accommodation prices.
According to the travel agency, it has witnessed first-hand the implications of the pandemic on both the industry and travellers.
It revealed in a statement: "Dertour noted a significant shift in accommodation pricing, and decided to undertake a study to see how these changes are reflected in the market overall.
“This dataset is designed not only to inform prospective travellers about the options available and the prices they should expect to find but also to help raise awareness about the considerable drop in prices between 2020 and 2019, which is reflective of the current struggle facing the entire travel industry.“
The company compiled a list of some of the most popular holiday destinations around the world and selected 75 cities. The team collected the prices of available properties in each of these locations to determine the average median price for accommodation. They then calculated how far the price deviated above or below from the median among the cities.
The results were broken down by the median price per night for a three, four or five-star hotel, as well as a vacation home.
Since extra features are often a booking incentive, the price of hotels in each city that offered complimentary breakfast or a swimming pool were also included, as well as their average star rating. Dertour didn't stop there, the company also researched whether prices had changed before and during the pandemic.
Lastly, using accommodation data from the same period in 2019, the travel agency was able to calculate the percentage difference between the mid-point of these prices for each city. The results show that except for a few locations, the mid-point price for a night stay went down substantially between the two
years, even though cleaning schedules and room limitations would have increased.
Johannesburg had an average Median Hotel Price of $88.13 (R1442)
The survey also found that accommodation prices have dropped by an average of more than 17% between 2019 and 2020, with Amsterdam, Netherlands showing a 51.6% drop in price, while Marrakech, Morocco shows a 15.5% increase in accommodation cost.
The least expensive accommodation can be found in Phuket, Thailand (R481), Delhi, India (R558) and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (R596).
The most expensive accommodation can be found in Zurich, Switzerland (R4037), and US cities Los Angeles (R3883) and New York (R3787).
Dr Ingo Burmester, CEO DER Touristik Central Europe, said travel itself will be cheap in 2021. Burmester revealed that 80
percent of the price for package tours is determined by the cost of flights and hotels.
"We will pass this on to our customers. We also stand in solidarity with all our partners in the travel industry in trying to make 2021 a year of recovery for everyone. Although it has been a challenging period, we have seen a great deal of interest in domestic
travel. We also predict a major catch-up effect for Mediterranean destinations, European trips and long-haul routes in 2021 as soon as travel restrictions are lifted," said Burmester.
See full study here.