Five new rules to travel smarter this summer

From locking in flights first to paying for expertise and flexibility, here’s what to consider before booking your summer holiday this year.

With rising fuel costs, geopolitical uncertainty and disruption across major travel corridors, summer travel in 2026 has even seasoned holidaymakers rethinking how and where they go.

But they're not staying home. Flight searches are up 4% this summer compared with last year, according to Kayak's Summer Travel Check-In, with US domestic interest up 7%. Instead, travellers are adjusting travel dates around airfare deals, shortening itineraries, swapping European holidays for Latin America and paying more for flexibility.

For travellers still weighing up where – and how – to travel this summer, the old assumptions may no longer apply. Here are five new rules to consider before booking.

Rule 1: Book the flight first

With airfares still highly sensitive to fuel costs, route changes and late-booking demand, it can pay to start with the flight. Travel advisors say more clients are locking in good-value fares when they appear, then planning hotels, tours and itineraries around those dates and routes.

"We see a trend of clients booking flights to avoid the rising prices, and then coming to us with flights already in place and asking us to design bespoke trips around their fixed flight date," said Graham Carter, CEO of Unforgettable Travel. "Travellers want to offset the higher airfares with cost savings in other parts of their trip, and want to make sure they are getting the best service for the price they are paying."

Uncertainty is also shortening booking windows. While last-minute travel was already gaining momentum in 2025, advisors say people are now waiting even longer before committing as they monitor global stability in real time. "We've adapted our internal operational processes to handle bespoke bookings seven days out," said Carter, noting that "last-minute" previously meant closer to two to three weeks out.

Rule 2: Stay closer to home

If long-haul prices feel punishing, look at shorter trips, regional escapes and destinations that reduce the cost of getting there. According to Cayce Callaway, travel advisor at Cruise Planners, "[American] clients are looking closer to home, like the Caribbean, and they're going for fewer days when they would have otherwise gone to Europe. They're also flying coach when they would have been flying at least comfort [premium economy] previously."

Callaway says she is also fielding more bookings for Alaska, a destination that was previously on the backburner for many Americans in favour of far-flung international trips.

Road trips also remain popular this year. A recent survey by rental car company Hertz found that 64% of Americans plan to take a road trip this summer; while industry advocacy group GO RVing has seen a 6% rise in interest in RVing compared to last summer, climbing to 15% around the 4 July holiday period.

"Americans are determined to get away. However, they........

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