New KAYAK tool reveals best time to travel for the festive season

• Book now for Christmas in Vienna
• Book this week for a festive week in Scotland
• There is still time to save on flights for winter sun in Thailand

LONDON, Oct. 26, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- It's 60 days until Christmas Day, and it's time to make that list, check it twice and figure out your holiday flights. There is no 'perfect' day to travel for the festive season, as it totally depends on where you are flying to. Luckily KAYAK, the world's leading travel search engine, has launched a new service to help you find the best time to travel to your chosen destination.

The Best Time To Travel Christmas and New Year service has analysed more than 8,000 routes globally. It uses KAYAK's historical data specifically around the festive season, to recommend the best time to book your flight to get the most affordable price.

Using predictive data and easy to read price graphs, the tool also allows you to compare prices day by day to find the most wallet-friendly dates to travel, as well as a recommendation on how many days in advance you should book to get the best prices. Whether you are travelling home for Christmas, or heading off to explore somewhere new, the festive Best Time To Travel tool not only helps you save money, it also saves you time trying to find the best deals and when to book and travel during the busy travel season.

For example, if you were planning a four day trip from London to Brussels, Belgium for Christmas, the best time to travel would be on Christmas Eve, returning on 27 December* and the best time to book those flights is today, 52 days** in advance - that's when we saw prices were the absolute cheapest, saving travellers up to 13% on flights last year

If you wanted a week-long festive holiday in Venice, Italy, booking your flights 60 days** before travel and travelling on Tuesday 19 December  from London, returning on Christmas Day could potentially save you up to 38% on air fares.

For those looking for some winter sun, you've still got plenty of time to book flights to Bangkok as the best deals can be found 21 days before travel, Thailand for savings up to 40% on flight costs. The best time to travel for a 14 day trip is from 12th December, returning on Christmas Day*.

If you've missed the booking window for the best deals, or you still have a few days or weeks to go until the best day comes up for your chosen destination, you can set up Price Alerts to track flight prices and book once you see a price that works for your desired route.

Annie Wilson, KAYAK Chief Commercial Officer commented, "'Tis the season for festive travel, but there are so many opinions on where to go, when to travel and when to book. KAYAK's Best Time To Travel Tool helps you to go see for yourself by using our smart data to help you find the best prices and compare by week so you can choose a date that works for you."

Note to editors:

KAYAK offers a wide range of tools including a variety of search filters to find the flights, cars and hotels to help travellers book their next getaway including:

• Explore: Debating where to travel? Use KAYAK's Explore tool to see all the amazing places you can visit within a given price range.
• Price Alerts: Never miss a deal by signing up for KAYAK's customised price alerts so you know when prices change for the flight, hotel or car you want.
• Vacay Valuator: Find the destinations you could fly to based on the savings you could make by cutting back on some everyday luxuries

* Based on flights from any London airport. Savings are calculated as the price difference between the forecasted cheapest and most expensive travel dates. Savings are correct as at 3.10.23.  Travel dates recommendation and forecasted savings are based on current market conditions which are subject to change.

** Insights regarding the best time to book are derived from KAYAK's internal historical search data for the Christmas and New Year travel period, which encompasses departure dates between 15.12.2022 and 31.12.2022, and return dates between 26.12.2022 and 08.01.2023.

About KAYAK

KAYAK, part of Booking Holdings (NASDAQ: BKNG), is the world's leading travel search engine. With billions of queries across our platforms, we help people find their perfect flight, stay, rental car and vacation package. We also support business travellers with our corporate travel solution.