How much does ‘shoulder season’ travel save? We crunched the numbers

Nearly one in five Americans said they plan to travel less in 2024, with most citing costs as the reason , according to Intrepid Travel’s 2024 Outlook Survey.

But many travelers are pressing forward, seeking ways to save without compromising their trips. And for some 70% of respondents of Intrepid’s survey, that means avoiding peak season trips.

Enter the era of “shoulder season” travel — or vacations booked between high and low seasons — which allows for cheaper trips, thinner crowds and better weather.

What was once “one of travel’s best-kept secrets … is 1706484688 our busiest time of the year,” said James Thornton, CEO of Intrepid Travel.

Travelers are typically adults without school-aged children, however “parents are increasingly willing to take kids out of school for travel,” he told CNBC Travel.

In some locations, the shift is so prominent that it’s changing long-established seasonal travel patterns, according to Zicasso’s 2024 Luxury Travel Report. The survey of some 200 travel specialists found:

• 41% said high seasons are lasting longer, with more traveling during “what used to be considered shoulder seasons”  
• 43% said more places are moving into year-round destinations “with no distinct low season”

“We [have] no more low season,” Thapanee Kiatphaibool, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Jan. 18. Similar patterns of year-round travel are happening in parts of the Caribbean and Mexico, too.

As the boundary between high and shoulder season disappear, the savings are vanishing too, said Thornton.

“Demand for travel is strong, even during off-season, and that brings prices up,” he told CNBC Travel.

To find out where deals still exist, CNBC Travel analyzed hotel rates in five popular destinations, comparing…