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After a challenging year when inflation and growth worries pinched customer budgets, U.S. travel is regaining momentum, a shift echoed in airlines’ latest results.

Marriott reiterated its ⁠optimism about international tourism, supported by the FIFA World Cup, and expects the uplift to continue in the third quarter.

It expects 2026 revenue per available room — a key lodging metric that acts as a proxy for pricing power — to grow between 2% and 3%, compared with a 1.5% to 2.5% increase forecast earlier. Its shares gained about 2%.

CEO Anthony Capuano said travel and experiences remained a priority over consumption of hard goods across demographics, and the shift was visible even in lower-income households.

Room revenue at Marriott’s budget segment rebounded ‌in the ⁠first quarter, while U.S. and Canada luxury properties stayed strong, buoyed by resilient spending from affluent travelers.

Marriott’s adjusted per-share profit of $2.72 beat analysts’ estimate of $2.55, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Uncertainty from the Middle East conflict looms as it risks raising consumer costs and dampen travel spending.

While ⁠Marriott said its outlook assumes a continued impact, peer Hilton and online travel agency Booking Holdings flagged effects from the conflict.

“We estimate Marriott has about 4% exposure to the Middle East, the highest of the ⁠U.S.-based hotel C-Corps,” said Truist analyst Patrick Scholes.

First-quarter room revenue in Middle East and Africa fell 1.9%, while occupancy was down 5.4%.

Marriott’s new CFO Jen Mason said booking activity showed ⁠some signs of recovery from the March lows.

“We are back to kind of pre-conflict trends in terms of domestic versus international travel bookings from the U.S.”