Off-Peak Traveling: Rewards and Benefits
What does it mean to travel “off-peak”? In a nutshell, “peak” is when tourists are most interested in traveling, and therefore the number of tourists at that time is a lot greater than any other time of the year, and prices are higher. “Off-peak”, then, is the opposite: when tourists are not as interested in traveling, crowds are smaller, and prices are lower because hotels, resorts, and airlines are competing for the reduced amount of business.
Every area has a peak season and an off-peak season. For instance, ski resorts have their peak season in the winter months, while there’s snow on the ground.
If you’re traveling to a foreign country, particularly if it’s in the southern hemisphere or in a different climate, check on when their peak and off-peak times are. In Thailand, June and July are off-season because it’s so hot - but the lack of crowds in the temples and other tourist hot spots more than makes up for it.
Closer to home, you can get great deals on travel to the Caribbean during the winter. As far south as they are, islands in the Caribbean have very nice weather, even when people in the U.S. are shivering in their boots. Even better, summer - when most people go to the Caribbean - is hurricane season. Avoid the storms, save money, and get a little sun to break up the winter by traveling to the Caribbean off-peak.
Lots of people take vacations during the summer when school is out. Fall or spring can be just as nice - or nicer, without the crowds - and you’ll be traveling with off-peak prices and off-peak crowds. If you don’t have kids, or the kids are off in college, consider a spring or fall vacation.
But you can also travel off-peak on a smaller scale. Most people take vacations roughly from Saturday through the following Sunday. If you decide to fly or drive between Tuesday and Thursday instead, you’ll have an easier time of it, and your airfare will quite possibly be cheaper. Hotels, likewise, have more business on the weekends and less during the week (except during their peak season!)
At holiday time, off-peak is on the holiday. The days right before and after are when most people want to travel, but if your schedule is flexible and you can take a flight on Thanksgiving morning, there sure won’t be any crowds.
You can even choose to travel during off-peak times of day. Choose flights in the mid-morning or late afternoon, or if you’re really courageous, take a red eye. You’ll have a lot fewer fellow travelers during those times. And everyone knows to avoid rush hour when driving - that’s yet another peak time.
Now that you know when to travel and what great rewards - lower costs and smaller crowds - you can get traveling off-peak, how do you find the deals? Subscribe to online newsletters put out by such discount air travel brokers as Jestgo or WesJet. Then look at the offerings they have that fall into the off-peak for your chosen destination.
Last but not least, make your plans early. Booking your flight as much as a year early can give you the cheapest off-peak airfares possible, especially for foreign travel. Or if you’re a last-minute kind of person, keep an eye on travel deals for last minute flights and accommodations. When they’re coming up short, airlines and hotels would rather give great discounts than have no visitors at all.
————-
Kit loves bringing you info about traveling and fun places to see. Read more of her articles at http://www.fun-travel-blog.com/.
————-