Travel prices grew faster than the general price index in August in the USA
The U.S. Travel Association publishes each month the Travel Price Index (TPI). The latter tracks the cost of travel in the United States using U.S. Department of Labor data from the monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI). Released monthly, the TPI is comparable to the CPI while focusing on travel-related expenses.
August 2025 saw travel prices growing stronger than the overall inflation
U.S. Travel prices grew faster than the CPI on a monthly basis for the first time since January but remain below overall inflation levels on an annual and longer-term basis.
• Overall inflation accelerated in August, up 0.4% for the month compared with 0.2% for the prior month. Similarly, on a year-over-year basis price increases grew form 2.7% in July to 2.9% in August.
• Prices of travel goods and services increased on a monthly basis for the first time since January, up 1.5% in August. On an annual basis TPI inflation of 0.4% remains significantly below the 2.9% increase for prices overall and that holds for longer term comparisons as well.
Prices for airfares, gas and hotels all increased at more rapid rates in August, driving the higher TPI reading for the month.
• Hotel prices grew by 2.6% in August, reversing 5 consecutive months of price decreases. On an annual basis, hotel prices remain 3.7% below levels of last year.
• Airfare prices jumped 5.9% in August, an increase from 4.0% growth in July after remaining flat or down for most of the first part of 2025. Airfares were 3.3% above the level of last year, slightly outpacing overall inflation levels.
• Gas prices grew 1.8% in August and have showed fluctuation within a relatively narrow range for 5 months, but remain a solid 6.5% below levels from the same time last year.
Travel prices for other categories including recreation (-0.2%) and food and beverage away from home (+0.3%) showed little change in August, and over the longer term have experienced price growth faster than the economy overall.
Additional data and insights are available via the U.S. Travel Insights Dashboard.
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