The State of the American Traveler in May 2023 — Risk of Travel’s Declining Value Perception

Americans’ love for travel continues, but the industry should heed warning signs—particularly feelings of a declining travel experience and the value they receive for their money—which may challenge this devotion.

IMPORTANT: These findings are brought to you from our independent research, which is not sponsored, conducted or influenced by any advertising or marketing agency. The key findings presented below represent data from over 4,000 American travelers collected in April 2023.

Financial Concerns Still Weigh on Travel Sentiment
The biggest impacter on travel sentiment over the last 13 months has been anxiety about the economy. Travelers aren’t feeling quite as good about their current financial situation as they were over the last few months. When asked if they/their household are better off or worse off financially than they were a year ago, just 29% said better, a 3-point decline. Meanwhile, 32% said they are worse off relative to a year ago. Thus, Americans reporting that the present is a good time to spend on travel remained at 31%, unable to recover the upward trend that had begun in January. The percent of Americans who feel the U.S. will enter a recession within the next 6 months increased to 57% after a 2-month period below 55%. The cost of travel remains a formidable deterrent. In this survey wave, 45% of American travelers said high travel prices kept them from traveling in the past month—on an upward trend since December and 3 points higher than at the same point last year. However, optimism about their future financial prospects has been trending upward. When asked if, in a year from now, they and their household would be better off financially, or worse off, or just about the same as now—46% feel they will be better off—up 4-points from the same period last year. Personal Leisure travel budgets may be down compared to earlier this year, but remain above where they were at the same point last year at a healthy $4,082. In addition, travelers prioritize having at least one luxury travel experience at a near high.

Americans’ Maintain their Devotion to Travel
The data confirms the love and devotion to travel is enduring. Americans continue to demonstrate record levels of excitement for travel, registering 8.2 on a scale from 0-10. The enthusiasm is across geographies, from East to West, North to South. Among those most excited about travel right now include, Baby Boomers, families with young kids, and affluent households. We track travel ideation and planning behaviors—from gleaning inspiration to booking tickets–and Americans appear to frequently be doing a lot of both right now. More than 37% researched travel ideas online and 17% booked in the last week. In fact, those that report no engagement in travel inspiration or planning in the last week is at a record low.

Warning Signs: Travel Feels Less Enjoyable, Value Declining
In January we asked American travelers their predictions for the year, and their wariness of the travel industry was glaring in response: price gouging, labor shortages, and an increasingly frustrating domestic travel experience were among the top scenarios that Americans felt would occur in 2023. This made us wonder if the record levels of enthusiasm for travel might wane in the face of the industry’s ongoing challenges. This month we asked American travelers to think back to the period immediately before the pandemic and compare that time of traveling to today’s travel. When asked if travel overall had become more or less enjoyable, while 25% say it’s more enjoyable, a greater 34% say it is less enjoyable. In terms of more specific aspects of travel, 28% say their ability to have fun and enjoy travel had improved, above the 19% that said it was worse. However, over 45% say the reliability of air travel had worsened, 50% say the behavior of other travelers had declined, and a stunning 51% say the value they receive for the money is worse.
This is a sobering but very important reminder for us as an industry to think about and address as we deal with a potentially challenging period economically.


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The State of the American Traveler in April 2023—Potential Travel Spending Reductions, Top Travel Pet Peeves

Current financial sentiment may keep Americans from spending as freely as they did a year ago, however record levels of travel enthusiasm keeps them planning trips. Meanwhile, pet peeves about the travel experience abound, from transit delays to snoring seatmates.

These findings are brought to you from our independent research, which is not sponsored, conducted or influenced by any advertising or marketing agency. The key findings presented below represent data from over 4,000 American travelers collected in March 2023.

American Travelers’ Financial Sentiment and Its Impact on Travel
Will Americans curb their travel spending enthusiasm in the coming months? The percent of American travelers who report being better off financially today than they were a year ago is at 32%. While this is up 6-points from the end of 2022, compared to how they felt at the same time last year, it is down 2 points. Optimism about their future financial situation does remain solid at 47% and is up nearly 5 points compared to one year ago. Nevertheless, Americans express some financial fears that spill over into their anticipated travel behaviors. After being around 27% for the first months of the year, the percent of Americans who say recent inflation in consumer prices has led them to cancel an upcoming trip ticked back up to 31%—the level it was throughout Summer and Fall 2022. Right now, 55% believe the U.S. will enter a recession within the next 6-months. As a result, 60% report they are being careful with their money because of their recessionary concerns. Both beliefs have increased over the last month. As to whether the present is a good time to spend on travel, 30% say it is, however this is down nearly 8-points from the same time last year. Those that say travel will be a high priority in their spending over the next 3 months is at 55%—a drop from 61% reported during the same period in 2022. The percentage who says they will take more trips in the next year compared to the previous year dropped to a four-month low 29% and is down from 35% at the same period last year. Similarly, the percentage saying they will spend more on travel in the next 12-months compared to the previous year is at 32%, down from 37% in March 2022. Average reported 12-month travel spending has dropped to $4116 from $4667 although is still above March 2022 at $4080.

Travel Enthusiasm Keeps the Travel Outlook Healthy
Despite the challenges of the current financial sentiment, Americans’ excitement for travel remains near record levels (8.1 on a 0-10 scale). Nearly 85% of American travelers have trips planned. Despite the decline in their optimism about their trip volume in the coming months, the typical American traveler says they expect to take 3.5 leisure trips in the next 12-months, up from 2.9 reported at the same time a year ago. On average, American travelers say they have more than 15 days devoted to travel this year. Travel deterrents are down overall, notably gas (34%) and airfare (24%) being too expensive and too many crowds (12%). Prioritizing luxury travel experiences has hit a 12-month high 49.2%—nearly 10-points higher than at the same time last year.

Is engagement up on your organization’s marketing channels? It wouldn’t surprise us if so. With the summer season approaching, 80% of American travelers reported doing some travel dreaming or planning in the last week alone. Over 35% of these travelers said they researched travel ideas online, which is up from 31% who reported such at the same time last year. When recent trip-takers were asked how many hours they personally spent actively planning or researching their trip AFTER they arrived in their destination, the average was 2.5 hours. Note that Millennial and Gen Z travelers are above average at 3 hours, while Boomers are well below, spending just 1.4 hours planning once in-market. Across the U.S., Northeasterners say they spent 2.7 hours, while Southerners report a more relaxed 2.3 hours. Of those still doing trip planning post arrival, restaurant reservations top the list (35.2%), but lodging comes in second (26.4%), followed by attractions (20.0%). Interestingly, after hovering around the 11-week mark, this month the average trip planning window for a 1-week domestic vacation dropped to 10 weeks.

Top sources of travel inspiration continue to be websites found through searches, email campaigns, Facebook, Instagram, and other online article/blog content.

Americans’ Top Travel Peeves
Although we in the travel industry strive for our customers to have happy, rave-worthy experiences, clearly, they still experience annoyances during their journeys. This month we presented our survey respondents with a list of travel pet peeves sourced from complaints we had seen on the Internet (as well as our own team’s) and asked which they found most bothersome. While several of the top slots are industry caused—Flight delays (#1), price gouging (#2), dirty hotel rooms (#4), road construction (#5)—many are social-related or caused by other travelers: Snoring passengers (#3), people cutting lines at boarding (#6), people talking loudly on their cell phones, (#7) seatmates on airlines who talk to you (#8), rookie travelers at the TSA security line (#9), and drunk or belligerent passengers (#10). This certainly makes the case for “How to be a thoughtful fellow traveler” campaigns!


For the complete set of findings, including historic data and custom information on your destination or business, purchase a subscription to The State of the American Traveler study.

Learn more about the latest trends during our webinar.

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Have a travel-related question idea or topic you would like to suggest we study? Let us know!

We can help you with the insights your tourism strategy needs, from audience analysis to brand health to economic impact. Please check out our full set of market research and consulting services here.

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The State of the American Traveler—Destinations Edition 2023

Every quarter working with our smart friends at Miles Partnership, we take a deeper dive into important areas driving the travel industry’s management and growth. This further analysis allows Miles and Destination Analysts to provide additional insights towards evolving strategies. The Destinations Edition is where we take a particular look at our research on traveling consumers’ desires and decision making around how they perceive, consider and ultimately choose destinations. It is based on data collected in our monthly The State of the American Traveler survey fielded among a nationally representative sample of 4,000 adult American travelers each wave. Below is a summary of the key highlights.

American Travel Sentiment Heading into Spring 2023
The outlook for travel over the next months looks bright. Americans’ excitement for travel is at record levels and travelers’ reported average expected annual travel spending hit $4,677. American travelers say they will prioritize leisure travel in their household income’s spending in the coming months–over home improvements, clothing, entertainment and even dining out in restaurants.

Which Destinations are Hot?
When asked about their feelings about various destination types, American travelers express the most excitement for beaches (60.0%), followed by cities (47.7%), small towns (44.8%) and then national parks (41.2%). However, in a turn-around from the pandemic era, cities top the list in the reported number of leisure trips Americans plan to take to them this year. The average American travelers says they plan to take 2.9 leisure trips to cities this year, up from 1.4 reported in 2019.

Nearly half (48%) of American travelers say they have an active bucket list of places they want to visit. Domestically, these bucket lists most commonly include Hawaii, Alaska, New York, California and the Grand Canyon. Almost 1-in-3 (31.2%) American travelers report they are likely to travel internationally this year, and topping the international bucket list is Italy, followed by the UK.

In our latest survey, American travelers also rated dozens of destinations on a variety of different attributes. Best for food? New York. Romantic atmosphere? Miami. Welcoming to people like themselves? Orlando. A Place to Attend a Meeting/Conventions? Las Vegas.

Destination Inspiration: Media Resources
About one-third of American travelers overall report they used online video specifically for trip planning purposes. But when it comes to destination inspiration, Millennial and GenZ age travelers are particularly open to content they receive through video sources like TikTok and streaming services.

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The State of the American Traveler in March 2023—Travel Tops Clothes & Restaurants in Spending Priorities; Emergence of ChatGPT

 

Americans will prioritize travel in their household income’s spending in the coming months—over home improvements, clothing, entertainment and even dining out in restaurants.

IMPORTANT: These findings are brought to you from our independent research, which is not sponsored, conducted or influenced by any advertising or marketing agency. The key findings presented below represent data from over 4,000 American travelers collected in February 2023.

Travel Tops Spending Priorities
Given the deserved attention on how economic conditions will impact the travel industry’s performance this year, it is important to more fully understand how travel fits into consumers’ priorities. We know travel is something that evokes strongly positive emotions, but where does it fit among many other beloved things people can choose to invest in? So this month we asked 4,000 American travelers to think about how they expect to spend their household income in the next 12 months. They used a scale from “extremely high priority” to “no priority” to rate how much of a spending priority a number of products, services and hobby-pursuits will be. Domestic leisure travel took the top spot, with 35% of American travelers saying that it will be a high or extremely high priority in their household spending this year. It beat out restaurants (32%), education (24%), home improvement (21%), clothing & accessories (20%) and entertainment (18%). Additionally, over 20% of American travelers said they would be highly prioritizing international leisure travel and 14% said they would be prioritizing luxury travel in their household spending. (Note: Despite restaurants taking the #2 spot to travel in budget priorities, restaurants will still be key beneficiaries of travel spending…in fact, two-thirds of American travelers say they engaged in foodie-ism behaviors on a recent trip.) The prioritization of travel includes time as well as money. The typical American traveler reports having 15.9 days available for leisure travel this year.

Financial Concerns Still an Impediment But Travel Volume Strong
When asked what has deterred them from travel recently, 39% of Americans say travel prices are too high right now, 36% say gas was too expensive and 32% cite their personal financial situation. Yet while economic concerns continue to be an impediment to travel, travelers are feeling somewhat better off financially than they were a few months ago. Now 30% say their financial situation is improved relative to a year ago and 47% expect to be better off next year relative to where they are now. Although the majority of American travelers (53.6%) still expect the US will enter a recession in the next six months, fears of an impending recession continue to abate, sliding 10 points since last year. Fewer travelers are exercising spending caution due to concerns about a recession–down 7-points in 6 months to 58%. Importantly, travel volume remains strong—50% took an overnight leisure trip in the past month and 89% of American travelers have existing trip plans right now. The outlook for the next several months looks bright, as well. Americans’ excitement for travel broke last month’s record and reached another high (8.2 on a 0-10 scale). 43% of American travelers are back to prioritizing luxury travel, and average expected annual travel spending hit $4677. Looking at our travel sentiment indices, current travel enthusiasm has been moving forward in the past 2 months and expectations for future travel are at the levels they were a year ago. In perhaps another sign that Americans are feeling good, comedy unseated true crime as the top podcast genre among the 28% of American travelers who regularly consumer podcast content.

The Emergence of ChatGPT
With such notable levels of excitement, integration and adoption, ChatGPT (and other AI) appears poised to be transformative in many ways. In our latest survey, 6% of American travelers report having used ChatGPT for any reason—so far, 2% have used it specifically for travel inspiration or trip planning. But interest is emerging. Over 26% of American travelers overall (and 40% of Millennial-aged travelers) say they are “interested” or “very interested” in using ChatGPT for travel inspiration and/or trip planning going forward.


For the complete set of findings, including historic data and custom information on your destination or business, purchase a subscription to The State of the American Traveler study.

Learn more about the latest trends during our webinar.

To make sure you receive notifications of our latest findings, you can sign up here.

Have a travel-related question idea or topic you would like to suggest we study? Let us know!

We can help you with the insights your tourism strategy needs, from audience analysis to brand health to economic impact. Please check out our full set of market research and consulting services here.

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The State of the American Traveler in February 2023

 

 

Americans are feeling the love for travel as economic anxieties somewhat abate.

 

IMPORTANT: These findings are brought to you from our independent research, which is not sponsored, conducted or influenced by any advertising or marketing agency. The key findings presented below represent data from over 4,000 American travelers collected in January 2023.

A Demonstrative Love for Travel
With Valentine’s Day in its middle, February is a month often associated with love. Fittingly, love seems to be the feeling Americans have towards travel right now. Americans’ level of excitement to travel is at a 3-year high, reaching 8 on a scale from 0-10. In fact, fully 41% of Americans described their excitement for travel at a level 10! Right now, 84% of American travelers have existing trip plans, with one-third of American travelers likely to take at least one international trip this year. Half of American travelers report having 2 weeks or more of days available for their leisure travel. Booking behavior appears to also be up: 17% of American travelers said they made reservations or purchased tickets for trips in the last week alone. Keep reading for some of the factors driving the love for travel and more interesting trends.

Economic Anxieties Easing
Factors such as easing inflation and GDP growth seem to have abated Americans’ economic anxieties to some degree. Although the majority continue to believe that the US will enter a recession soon, 45% of American travelers believe they will be better off financially a year from now. The percent of American travelers who report that inflation led them to cancel a trip dropped to 27% after peaking at 36% in June 2022. Travel costs has abated as a travel deterrent compared to last month. Currently, 42% of American travelers say high travel prices have kept them from traveling in the past month, down from 49% in December. We are seeing a rebound in the percent of Americans who say the present is a good time to spend on leisure travel. At 30%, this is the highest it has been since last summer. In addition, over half of American travelers say that travel is a priority in their budget in the near term. This metric is also increasing, hitting a six-month high after a downward trend in the last half of 2022.

 

Increasing Rewards Points Usage with Increasing Travel Budgets
American travelers highly rating the importance of credit card and rewards points has climbed 6-points in the last month to 52%. Meanwhile, usage/redemption of rewards points for travel (primarily for airline tickets and hotel stays) has increased 5-points to 33%. Despite the increased valuation and usage of rewards points for travel, Americans’ anticipated average spending on leisure travel has increased to $4,407, up from $3991 at the conclusion of 2022.

The Forces Behind Travel Motivation
This month we explored what really fuels the desire to travel. Americans travelers surveyed were asked to think deeply about what motivates them to travel right now, and rated a set of motivators using a 5-point scale from “not motivating at all” to “critically important.” Quality time with loved ones, creating memories, experiencing new places, escaping the pressures of daily life and recharging are top tier motivators – about two thirds or more of American travelers cited these as very motivating or critically important. Second tier motivators include connecting with nature, visiting places of historical significance, food and the chance to expand one’s own perspective. Third tier motivators are concerts, the arts and shopping, with partying and bragging rights more relatively niche motivations.

Pets, Psychedelics & Other Noteworthy Travel Trends
Some other travel trends to keep in mind include:

  • 24% of American travelers say they have brought a pet along with them on at least one trip in the last year. Of this group of pet-toting travelers, 44% say they “usually” or “always” travel with their pet(s).
  • 22% of American travelers are interested in psychedelic tourism–traveling to explore the use of drugs such as ayahuasca or psilocybin
  • 17% used a travel advisor or travel agent to plan one or more trips in the past 12 months

 


For the complete set of findings, including historic data and custom information on your destination or business, purchase a subscription to The State of the American Traveler study.

Learn more about the latest trends during our webinar.

To make sure you receive notifications of our latest findings, you can sign up here.

Have a travel-related question idea or topic you would like to suggest we study? Let us know!

We can help you with the insights your tourism strategy needs, from audience analysis to brand health to economic impact. Please check out our full set of market research and consulting services here.

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Call It a Comeback! Cities Back on Top of Trip Plans

Cities come out on top in 2023 in terms of the number of trips Americans have planned.

Historically, beach destinations always garnered the most excitement among American travelers, with cities coming in at a close second. However, the pandemic upended the travel landscape, and by summer of 2020 half of Americans said they would be avoiding visiting crowded destinations and 22% said they would actively avoid cities and urban areas in the six-month period after COVID is resolved. Fast forward to the start of 2023 and cities are now back on top in terms of leisure trip volume expectation. When asked how many leisure trips to specific destination types Americans anticipate taking in the next 12 months, the highest number on average was to cities/metro areas (1.7). followed by small towns (1.4) and beach destinations (1.3). In addition, cities have taken back their number two spot in terms of travelers’ excitement to visit (39% of Americans rated their excitement to visit cities as an 8 or higher on a 10-point scale) and over a quarter (26%) of travelers say they will prioritize visiting large cities in the next 12 months.

One thing to give pause, however, is that a notable number of Americans predict our cities will continue to struggle with crime and safety issues, despite the renewed tourism interest. One-in-five of all travelers also feel that American cities will become more dangerous and unmanageable places to visit this year (20%)—a feeling more commonly shared by Baby Boomers (24%), higher income brackets (HHI $200k+ – 23% and HHI $100k-$199k – 23%), those residing in rural areas (22%) and persons who have (or travel with someone who has) a disability (24%). This may damper this urban momentum, so Destination Analysts will continue track and keep you updated on how this progresses, including the implications it may have for the broader travel landscape.

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Welcome 2023! The State of the American Traveler in January—Americans’ Top Travel Predictions for the New Year

Wariness about the travel industry can be seen in American travelers’ predictions about what will happen in 2023. Yet they remain very excited about their travels ahead—from capitalizing on dream trips to enjoying more authentic experiences.

IMPORTANT: These findings are brought to you from our independent research, which is not sponsored, conducted or influenced by any advertising or marketing agency. The key findings presented below represent data from over 4,000 American travelers collected in December 2022.

Happy 2023! May this year bring you much joy, prosperity and, of course, many incredible travel experiences! We’ll continue to keep you covered with the insights you need on the hows, whys and whos of travel and tourism.

High Travel Prices Costly to Travel Morale
For the last several months, we have been wondering if and when Americans’ patience with the high costs of travel will run thin. This may be coming to fruition. Currently 45% of Americans said travel being too expensive kept them from taking as many trips as they would have liked in the past six months—now statistically tied with gas prices as the #1 cited travel deterrent. This finding represents a 5-point increase over the last six months. In fact, fully half of American travelers even say high travel prices have kept them from traveling in the past month alone. Airfare specifically being too expensive was cited by 30% of American travelers as what has put them off travel. In addition, Americans’ personal financial situations continue to concern them and impact their travel—40% say their financial situation kept them from traveling as much as they would have liked. In terms of other factors dissuading Americans from travel right now, the stereotype about Americans’ “always-on” work culture remains an inhibitor. One-in-five say they are too busy at work and 16% cite not having enough PTO. And as Americans headed into December’s peak holiday season, fear of contracting COVID jumped more than 7-points over the month prior to 25%.

Over 62% of American travelers agree that they are currently being careful with their money because they are concerned about an upcoming recession. Of these recession-cautious American travelers, 77% say that their reduced spending habits also target travel. The number of Americans feeling like the present is a good time to spend on travel has reached a post-pandemic low 22%. And while 53% say that travel will remain a priority in their budget over the next three months, this is 5 points lower than at the same point in 2021.

But do Americans anticipate the recession to be short-lived? Nearly half of those surveyed still anticipate that their personal financial situation will improve in the next year. Expectations to travel and spend more in the new year are at the same levels they were at the onset of 2022—a year that saw records smashed for tourism. And Americans are starting the year with strong enthusiasm about travel. 80% report high degrees of excitement about travel this year—a level that is also the same as one year prior. In fact, 79% of American travelers already have trips planned in the next several months and anticipate spending $3,991 on their leisure travel during the year.

Predictions about Travel and What Will Impact It

There are healthy doses of optimism and pessimism in what American travelers predict for 2023. After perhaps experiencing revenge-travel fueled pandemonium in 2022, there appears some wariness of the travel industry among traveling consumers. Further price gouging (25%), labor shortages (24%) and an increasingly frustrating domestic travel experience overall (22%) are among the top scenarios we tested that Americans feel are likeliest to occur in 2023. Interestingly, 13% predict travelers will sour on the use of home rental services like Airbnb/VRBO—a sentiment felt strongest among younger travelers. Yet despite some of this negative outlook, 23% of American travelers say they will still take a dream trip to somewhere exciting in 2023. Gen Z and Millennial-aged travelers, as well as those who identify as Black/African American and/or Latino/Hispanic are the likeliest to say a dream trip will come to fruition this year. About 16% of American travelers feel that more authentic, less commercial travel experiences will grow in popularity (15.6%), and just over 14% say they will be more proactive about reducing the impact of their travels on the environment. Over 30% of American travelers say with a degree of certainty that 2023 is going to be a great year for them personally.

Air Aggravations
Although our survey fielded just before the full Southwest Airlines operational meltdown, air travel was already losing share as a transportation preference. When Americans were asked about their foremost travel transportation preference, those selecting road trips increased by 4 points from October to 44%, while preference for commercial airline travel dropped 3 points in that same timeframe to 29%. While the possibility of flight cancellations declined as a travel deterrent between August and December, we will look into any further or longer lasting effects of ongoing commercial air service issues, particular what transpired during this holiday season.


For the complete set of findings, including historic data and custom information on your destination or business, purchase a subscription to The State of the American Traveler study.

Learn more about the latest trends during our webinar.

To make sure you receive notifications of our latest findings, you can sign up here.

Have a travel-related question idea or topic you would like to suggest we study? Let us know!

We can help you with the insights your tourism strategy needs, from audience analysis to brand health to economic impact. Please check out our full set of market research and consulting services here.

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