Convenience Spending Is On the Rise with Travelers

Travelers, especially Americans, are paying extra to avoid any type of line — at theme parks, tourist hotspots, and while waiting for their hotel rooms — that could undercut their enjoyment.

The Big View: Global tourism is at an all-time high, which means that the number of people visiting the same top destinations is more impacted than ever. Services and packages that allow people to bypass the crowd may start to become the only way to get into places someday.

Between The Lines: If you’re going on vacation soon, you may need to start adding more to your budget.

• Travel-research firm Arival found that about half of the 650 theme parks, zoos and aquariums, monuments, and observation decks they surveyed rolled out passes that allowed people to skip lines. Another 18% said that they’re introducing them next year.
• TSA PreCheck, Global Entry, and Clear usage has also skyrocketed despite price increases, as people try to avoid lines at the airport.
• Early check-in at hotels is now a paid perk, not a free accommodation if a person’s room is ready. Americans are more likely than other travelers to cough up the cash.
• GetYourGuide found that line-skipping passes for travel hotspots have increased over five times since 2019, with the Pantheon in Rome and the Empire State Building observation deck in NYC being particularly popular.

Final Destination: Many skip-the-line passes and tickets are marketed towards families as a way for parents to ensure that their kids don’t lose their minds as they wait an hour to ride an attraction at Disney World or take a picture in front of a landmark in Italy. But on top of the tolls that tourist-heavy cities are charging for a day’s visit, savvy vacationers may opt to travel to under-appreciated gems or off-the-beaten-path locales to stretch their budgets.