Welcome back to your monthly reality check on the global travel industry. We are Saniya and Athira, research analysts at Skift and co-owners of the Skift Travel Health Index (STHI). Grab an iced coffee. If you're reading this from Southern Europe, you'll need it. More on why in a minute.
New to the STHI?
The STHI is Skift Research’s proprietary tool, tracking global travel health across 22 of the world’s largest economies.
We are excited to welcome Emerging Travel Group (ETG) and its B2B booking platform RateHawk as our newest data partners, bringing hotel demand, pricing, and booking data from over 190 markets into the fold. That takes us to 66 indicators from 20 data partners powering the index.
The bigger the net, the better the read on what's actually happening out there. We look at airlines, hotels, vacation rentals, and in-destination activities to see where the industry is really heading.
How to Read the Index
We benchmark each month against the same month in the previous year.
Above 100: Growth running ahead of the benchmark
100: Stable performance
Below 100: Decline or lagging travel performance
Note: We report on a monthly lag by design. Our June highlights, for example, are published in July to allow data to settle. This ensures we give you the actual, audited reality, not a real-time guess based on partial datasets.
If you are an executive setting rates, planning marketing spend, or looking for your next growth market, this index is built for you. It is the fastest read we can give you on where real demand is concentrating, and where it is pulling back.
We just analyzed the numbers for the June 2026 Skift Travel Health Index, and let’s just say the travel industry experienced a bit of a plot twist this month.
June’s Story
Flat, steady, and, dare we say, a little smug about it after two rocky months below benchmark. Travel demand has shrugged off a heatwave, a conflict, and its own World Cup hype to land right back where it started a year ago.
Everyone expected the 2026 FIFA World Cup to unleash a wave of international tourists and overflowing hotel lobbies across North America. Instead? Well, host city hoteliers cranked up room rates, but overall traveler volumes did not keep up.
As our editor-in-chief, Sarah Kopit, candidly put it: “The travel industry bet billions that the 2026 World Cup would bring throngs of international travellers to North America. Instead, it got lower hotel occupancy, price spikes, and fewer travelers. It’s a warning the United States shouldn’t ignore twice.”
But hey, at least the global index climbed back to a stable 100 this month after two months in the red!
The World Cup Threw a Party, Attendance Was …
Sixteen host cities. Three countries. 104 matches. Billions of dollars in anticipation. And what did the travel industry get for its trouble? Higher prices, mostly.
The pattern held everywhere you looked:
U.S. hotels hit 72% occupancy during the June 21–27 match week, with ADR up 9% and RevPAR up a solid 10%. Nice, but occupancy itself barely budged. It's not that more people showed up; people just paid more.
Mexico's three host cities were the real winners: 7.5 million trips, 3 million of them international, with match-day rates jumping nearly 52%. That's a party.
Canada, on the other hand, had its first monthly occupancy decline since December last year. Toronto and Vancouver saw ADR growth (19% and 21%), but Vancouver's occupancy actually fell 16% even as rates climbed.
Short-term rentals told the same story: booked rates up 30%+ in nine of 16 host cities, occupancy flat or down in seven of them.
The takeaway: International arrivals barely moved. U.S. overseas arrivals actually fell 2% year-on-year, with Germany, Italy, France, Argentina, Brazil, and South Korea all posting double-digit declines, despite their teams being in the tournament!
Europe Is Having a Summer (Not the Good Kind)
While North America was busy overcharging soccer fans, Europe was melting. An intense heatwave hit right as peak season kicked off, and it did not go gently. This is the iced-coffee moment we warned you about up top.
3,400+ flights delayed and 140 cancelled in a single 48-hour stretch (June 25–26). Temperatures over 100°F sent the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Buckingham Palace, and Windsor Castle to cut hours or shut down entirely. Eurostar cancelled its London–Paris service, SNCF axed 71 intercity trains.
Europe is now the only region still sitting below its 2025 benchmark and, with the World Meteorological Organization noting the continent is warming at roughly twice the global average, this isn't shaping up to be a one-summer problem.
Meanwhile, Elsewhere …
The Middle East clawed its way back to a neutral 100 after months of volatility tied to the U.S.–Israel-Iran conflict, a genuine bright spot.
Türkiye kept its crown as the top-performing country (108), primarily by domestic travelers that offset the international travel slowdown.
The Bottom Line
June was the month the travel industry learned that a mega-event and a healthy market are not the same thing. Rates went up, headlines were made, but the deeper story (muted international demand, climate disruption in Europe, a still-fragile Middle East recovery) is the one that will actually shape the second half of 2026.
See you next month, hopefully with fewer heat warnings and more actual tourists.
Until next month,
Saniya and Athira
Research Analysts, Skift
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