Dog Travelers: Thinking Outside the Dog House for Destination Marketers

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On a recent business trip to Alaska, we had lunch with a local entrepreneur whose very first business as a teenager was dog-sitting for tourists while they took day trip sightseeing cruises.  These travelers couldn’t exactly leave their dogs in their hotel or cars for the day, so they were in a pickle.  Neglect their beloved family member or forego one of the pinnacles of the Alaska visitor experience.  Our new friend saw a market for doggy day care and, for a few bucks, took care of his town’s tourist dogs while their families were at sea.

We’re telling you this story to draw attention to a market many DMOs may not be aware of and we’ll give you a word to the wise.  Destinations should not forget visitors traveling with man’s best friend.   While our impulse might be to simply add a “pet-friendly amenities” check box to hotel listings and move on, that would be a mistake.  As DMOs prepare their ever-changing content strategies, considering the needs of this enthusiastic traveling audience could reap significant rewards.

For several years we’ve been tracking the importance of dog-friendly amenities and destinations to the American public.  The results might surprise you. Nearly half of American travelers own a dog and one third of them (33.4%) have taken an overnight leisure trip with Fido in the past twelve months.  When we do the math, it tells us that about 30 million Americans will hit the road this year for an overnight trip with their dogs.

Having dog-friendly accommodations and activities is critically important to them, and they will be looking to you, the DMO, for advice.  Just for fun, here are a few stats from our most recent State of the American TravelerTM study to drive this point home.

Question: How important are pet-friendly policies and amenities to how you generally select your leisure travel accommodations (hotels, motels, etc?)

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Source: State of the American Traveler, July 2014. Base: American travelers who took an overnight leisure trip with their dog in the past year.  

 

Question: When you travel with your dog, do you typically choose well-known pet-friendly cities or destinations?
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Source: State of the American Traveler, July 2014. Base: American travelers who took an overnight leisure trip with their dog in the past year.  

Clearly, this audience will be demanding content that allows them to pick pet-friendly accommodations (is the check box really enough?)  They will also be looking for pet-friendly destinations in which to spend their money.  And dog-centric information is really important to them.  But what’s a DMO to do?  We suggest considering some professional advice.  So, we reached out to our friends at dogtrekker.com and spoke with co-founder Dave Kendrick, about the market and what DMOs should consider.

A few snippets from the conversation follow:

DA:  Tell us a little about DogTrekker.  What’s it all about?

DK:  Well, we launched DogTrekker.com in 2011.  It’s a collaboration of dog lovers who wanted to share what they’ve learned during their equivalent of 200 years of on-the-road and on-the-trail adventures. Based upon their 4-Paw Promise to research local and accurate dog-friendly lodging, chow, hikes, splash zones, attractions and local services; provide engaging content written by veteran travel writers; and demonstrate a strong commitment to local animal welfare groups.

DA:  How big has DogTrekker.com become?

DK:  DogTrekker.com has become the go-to resource for hundreds of thousands of California dog owners.  Prior to DogTrekker.com, there was no way for dog owners to know just how ‘dog-friendly’ a lodging property was. For a hotel or motel, dog-friendly is way beyond putting the check in the ‘pet-friendly’ box and a picture of a dog on their site. Hotels with large numbers of breed restrictions, limited size limits, high dog fees, misleading information on their site and untrained desk personnel fall more into the ‘dog-tolerant’ to ‘dog-unfriendly’ categories and are not listed on the site.

DA:  How important is this to travelers?

DK:  Well, your own research that shows nearly 48% of dog travelers find a poor selection of truly pet-friendly hotels, 80% say hotel polices and dog-friendly amenities are important when choosing a property and nearly 50% are turned off due to high pet fees.  Survey after survey shows that the majority of dog owners feel that their four-legged buddies are an important part of the family and as such, want them to be treated equally or even better than they are when traveling. We see it every trip we take with Kayla, the joy she feels when the lodging property or attraction staff goes out of their way to provide a warm and heartfelt welcome. At DogTrekker.com we measure it in ‘wags per mile.’

DA:  Do hotels get it?  Are they becoming more dog-friendly?

DK:  I mentioned the problems, but on the other side of the leash, you have Kimpton, Loews and Joie de Vivre, Best Western Plus, La Quinta and many more hotel groups who go out of their way to welcome dogs.  With clear, concise policies, superior training of the staff, providing fun and safe dog amenities and a desire to treat the four-legged guests with the same level of respect and courtesy as their 2-legged uprights, these hotel groups are considered by DogTrekker.com to be ‘dog-passionate.’

DA:  Why should DMOs be interested in DogTrekker?

DK:  We have many DMOs working with us now.  In fact, many of California’s destination marketing organizations are Paw-of-Approval partners of DogTrekker.com, collaborating on ways to make their destinations as welcoming and dog-passionate as they can be.

DA:  Thanks, Dave.

As you think about the dog-traveling market, we suggest you give DogTrekker a look.  They have a wealth of fun content and expertise that could be of value to your destination’s content development plans.  Dog Trekker is one of our favorite industry partners, and we strongly encourage our friends in the industry to reach out to them.

Website:  www.dogtrekker.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/dogtrekker
Twitter:  www.twitter.com/dogtrekker

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Advertising That Works: Charlottesville Albemarle Convention & Visitors Bureau

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I really love my job.  One of the most rewarding parts of my work is helping clients show their communities and stakeholders that they’ve made good use of their funding by providing a positive return on investment.   As many of you know, our philosophy at Destination Analysts is to always provide our clients with the most conservative, bullet-proof, state-of-the-art methodologies to measure their marketing programs’ return on investment (ROI).  This approach comes from the many years we spent developing such research techniques for the San Francisco CVB.  Years of presenting ROI estimates to skeptical boards of directors and politicians taught us some very important lessons.  As a result, we carefully build our economic impact models, and whenever assumptions are made, we take the most conservative path possible.

We recently had the chance to apply this way of thinking and conduct some very interesting advertising effectiveness research for our award-winning friends at the Charlottesville Albemarle Convention & Visitors Bureau (CACVB).   If you’re not familiar with this organization’s work, I’d strongly suggest looking at their ideas and practices.  They’re simply an outstanding team of talented marketers, and they’ve hit a home run with their recent advertising campaign.

If you’re interested in learning more about research measuring Charlottesville’s success, check out the press release they sent out yesterday.  It’s well written and is a good model for how a DMO can showcase their results in an effective, easy-to-understand way.

cacvb

Charlottesville Albemarle Convention & Visitors Bureau Advertising in DC Marketplace Yields Positive Economic Impact to Local Area

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA–(Marketwired – December 10, 2014) – The Charlottesville Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau (CACVB) has announced the results of an advertising effectiveness study that shows its advertising and marketing in the Washington, DC metro area has produced significant economic impact to the Charlottesville-Albemarle area.

Destination Analysts, working with the CACVB and through its website management company, Simpleview, completed the “2013-2014 Advertising Effectiveness & ROI Study” to gauge the success of the organization’s recent marketing campaign. The study indicates that more than 23,600 incremental trips to the Charlottesville area were taken by Washington, DC metro area residents as a result of being exposed to one or more ads. These trips resulted in nearly $25 million being spent by visitors in our destination.

Continue reading here.

 

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The Off-season Leisure Travel Outlook

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Travel Outlook for Q1 2015: Low Gas Prices, Fatter Wallets and a Counter-balancing Airfare Effect

As travel moves into the depths of the off-season, our industry is poised for a stronger than normal performance.  Conditions are ripe for increased travel volume and spending this winter.  Driven by an improving labor market and sharply lower gasoline prices and the very significant bump this will provide to consumers’ pocketbooks, travelers will be hitting the roads.  Airfares, however, are not moving in this positive direction, which will counter balance to a limited degree the positive gas price-fueled momentum.

MONEY

Destination marketers should be thrilled.  Fatter wallets and lower gas prices are here (at least for now), which is excellent news for all of us working to lure leisure travelers and their dollars to our communities, attractions, parks and states.

Why?  When Americans travel for leisure, they mostly do it by car.  Our biannual The State of the American TravelerTM Survey consistently shows that nearly 80 percent of leisure travel is done by car.  When gas prices rise we typically see expectations for future travel drop.  Conversely, when gas prices are low, expectations for future travel tend to rise.  It’s a solid, immutable relationship.

The chart below shows recent changes in weekly U.S. retail gasoline prices (all grades in dollars per gallon).  The positive direction is clear and the implications for travel are obvious.  The average price we pay at the pump is down by nearly one dollar since June. The cost of gas dropped to a nationwide average of $2.82 a gallon from as high as $3.71 in June.  This is a national average and in certain markets prices are even lower.

Average Weekly U.S. Retail Gasoline Prices

(All grades in dollars per gallon)

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Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration

As we move deeper into the off season, not only will travel by car be cheaper, travelers will feel wealthier.  Economists talk of something called the Wealth Effect, referring to the tendency on the part of consumers to spend more when they feel wealthier or more financially secure.   We’re likely to see this come into play in the next few months.  Analysts suggest that the average American household will save nearly $1,100 a year if petroleum stays at these levels.   A $1,100 average bump in disposable income is very significant and most of it will be spent on things like travel.

The good news about gasoline prices presents itself to an enthusiastic traveling public already feeling fewer and fewer constraints on their ability to travel.  Our research shows that in recent years, fewer travelers are seeing gasoline prices and their personal financial situations causing them to cut back on their leisure travels.  The table below (from last summer’s State of the American Traveler report) shows that even when gas prices peaked last summer the proportion of travelers who felt gasoline was keeping them from traveling was in steep decline.  In July 2011, more than half (53.6%) of Americans said gas prices were keeping them off the roads, this metric reached a new 32.4 percent last July.  We’ll be excited to see where this stands when we field the survey again in three weeks.  It will likely be much lower given the gas price trends we have discussed.

reasons blogpost

Further, a growing share of travelers report that concerns about their personal financial situations are also consistently improving.  The table above shows that far fewer Americans now feel their financial situation is keeping them from traveling than just a couple of years ago.  Add stronger labor market conditions and the aforementioned $1,100 gasoline price income bump to their pocketbooks, and conditions for improved travel industry results seem rock solid.

Improving Employment Situation

As we move into the off season, we also see significant recent improvements in labor market conditions, which is key to consumer (traveler) confidence.  The American economy added a massive 321,000 jobs last month, as the nationwide unemployment rate remained at 5.8 percent.  This marks the most robust burst in job gains in several years, and comes alongside upward revisions of 44,000 more jobs added in September and October than previously estimated.  Overall, it looks like 2014 will be the strongest year for hiring since 1999, with average monthly additions to the labor force of over 240,000 jobs.

Airfares Buck the Trend and Airline Profits Soar

A slight downside to our bright outlook for the offseason is in air travel.   Anyone who has recently traveled by air has seen the shift toward full planes and crowded boarding areas.  Sadly, long gone are the days of comfort where we spread out and took the middle seat and didn’t share an arm rest.  Unfortunately, long gone too are the days where travelers benefited from commodity price fluctuations like decreasing jet fuel prices.

Competition is Good.  Consolidation is Bad.

This counter intuitive situation in the marketplace for air travel is powered by the slew of airline mergers in recent years, allowing these companies significant power in manipulating their capacity and prices.  More market power by the airlines doesn’t work in the best interests of travelers–and fares paid by the two million daily American air travelers tell a striking story.   Airfares have not fallen of late despite the downward fall in jet fuel prices that have accompanied those seen in gasoline.

Over the past 12 months, jet fuel prices domestically have dropped about 11%, according to the International Air Transport Association.  However, airfares have not responded to decreasing fuel costs, actually going up 0.2% this year.  Looking at the somewhat longer term, average U.S. domestic airfares bottomed out over five years ago, and have been rising since. Airfare has steadily increased in recent years, growing 10.7 percent in the past five years, according to an Associated Press analysis.

Travelers, however much they’ve lost through reduced competition in the air industry, are nothing if they aren’t resilient.  Despite changes resulting in steadily increasing ticket prices, our research shows that the degree to which airfares are getting in the way of travel is stable and even slightly improving.  Since January 2010, the proportion of American leisure travelers cutting back on travel due to high airfare has fallen slightly from 32 percent (in July 2011) to 24 percent last summer.  It appears that travelers may have adjusted to the marketplace and worked expectations for higher airfares into our budgeting and travel decision making.

Fortunately, too, for the destination marketing industry, fewer than 20 percent of ALL leisure trips are taken by air.   The outlook for leisure travel as we move into the new year is very positive.  I’m excited to field our next The State of the American Traveler survey in a few weeks to test these waters and see if travelers are feeling the optimism that I expect.

Readers can check back soon for the next The State of the American Traveler study or sign up here for the report that I’ll release in a mid January.

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What’s One Month of International Tourism Worth?

When I read last week that that international visitors to the United States spent $19.2 billion on their trips to the United States in August alone, it made me want to put this number in perspective. After all, we live in a world where multi-billion dollar price tags are seemingly norm. Huge dollar figures are commonplace. In news stories like this, a few billion here or a trillion there seems so pedestrian that these numbers have almost lost their true meaning.

It’s understood that $19 billion is a lot of cash, but exactly how much? Just for fun, I’ve put together a brief list of things that could be bought for the same amount international visitors to the US spent in August 2014.

 

DestinationAnalystsStudentTravel

A whole lot of education: The College Board reports that a “moderate” college budget for an in-state public college averages $22,826 annually. At this rate, $19 billion could pay for about 840,000 of our kids to attend college this year. How many students is that? Approximately the total student population at the eighteen largest universities in America. If divided equally, that’s 16,800 students in each of the fifty states.

 

DestinationAnalystsScience

Guns or lab coats: According to available statistics, the $19 billion international visitors spent in August could fund the entire budget of the National Science Foundation for 2.5 years. Or it could buy twenty-four B-2 stealth bombers.

 

DestinationAnalystsFootball

Thirteen NFL Franchises: With a reported average value of $1.43 billion, you could buy 13 NFL teams and still have money left over. Basically, you would have a controlling interest in one of the nation’s most beloved industries. As a light side note, the average NFL cheerleader is reported to make about $650 annually for their efforts (Note: I have a special place in my heart for the fair pay cause of NFL cheerleaders, as one of the whistle blowers once worked for us doing visitor surveys…and she was one of the hardest working we’ve ever had). So for one month of international tourism, we could hire nearly 30 million cheerleaders, or interestingly, 46,000 mascots (who apparently make about $44,000 annually).

The list could go on and on, but I’m sure you get the point without me having to. International tourism is critically important to the economic vitality of our country. But while there’s no lack of clarity in what international visitor spending represents, could someone help me with understanding why the market value of a someone dancing around in a costume is forty times that of a professional cheerleader?

Sources: This post is just for fun, but some of the sources I’ve used for the calculations above are: The US Bureau of the Census, Forbes Magazine, Bloomberg.com and Celebritynetworth.com

 

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Test Your International Visitor IQ

Sharpen your pencils.  It’s time to test your knowledge of international travelers.

Until recently, detailed marketing intelligence on our international markets was hard to come by.  We at Destination Analysts are devoted to changing this.  The eight questions below are taken from this year’s The State of the International Traveler survey.  This survey was conducted among 800 internationally-oriented travelers in each of America’s twelve largest feeder markets (Canada, Mexico, Japan, China, South Korea, Australia, India, United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy).   In total, over 10,000 of these travelers were queried for this survey about topics related to visiting the United States.

These questions can be a little tricky, so we’ve given you a hint after each. Our best advice is not to over think.  Use your intuition and you should do well.  Good luck!

 

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Hint:  One of the most important experiences international visitors report wanting in a U.S. trip is spending time in major cities.

 

2

Hint:  The recent hype seems like it may not be hype after all.

 

3

Hint:  Okay.  This one should be easy.  Almost a gimme.

 

4

Hint:  Which destination do you think is more exotic?

 

5

Hint:  Despite stereotypes, travelers in all countries think with one item they always carry with them.

 

6

Hint:  Why do people generally use travel agents?

 

7

Hint:  This one might surprise you given one country’s well-known love of motorcars.

 

8

Hint:  As fun as it might be, not everyone is interested in one of these things…

 

Okay.  Pencils down.  To see the answers to the test, just download this pdf file and look beneath the questions.  If you answered five or more correctly, you’re in rare company!

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An Inside Look at What Destination Analysts’ Clients Say About Us

We are excited to share a video we have composed from interviews with our wonderful clients who discuss their experience working with Destination Analysts. We debuted this at the 2014 Marketing Outlook Forum in Atlanta where our team had an amazing time sharing, learning and interacting with other industry insiders. This video truly speaks to the caliber of work we provide and shows the importance we place on the happiness and satisfaction of Destination Analysts’ clients!

 

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Bratton Speaks at National Park Service on Marketing to Millennial Travelers

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The Generation of Yes and America’s Greatest Idea

America’s National Parks are indeed our country’s greatest idea, but they face a serious challenge in attracting a new generation of digitally-oriented visitors.  Attracting a more youthful audience is both a challenge and a great opportunity for the National Park Service.  When it comes to travel, the millennial generation (those born between roughly between 1980 and the mid 2000s) is called the “Generation of Yes” by our team due to their extraordinary interest in visiting all types of travel destinations and unbridled enthusiasm for living of life full of diverse travel experiences.  However they may pay lip-service to the importance of adding natural experiences to their travel resume. Many Millennials are still uncomfortable with the disconnection from their networks they associate with outdoor experiences.  They also hold a strong general preference for big city travel experiences over rural ones in nature. 

Our founder, David Bratton, spoke yesterday to a group of National Parks decision makers and stakeholders at an event held at the U.S. Department of Interior in Washington, DC.  Bratton encouraged the audience to aggressively market its assets in order to elevate awareness among younger Americans. He discussed the importance of positioning the park experience in line with the travel experiences most desired by the young generation (bucket list fulfillment, bragging rights, high energy excitement and self-improvement).

A livestream recording of the event can be seen here.

 

Nature is Important. Being Disconnected is Scary.

Millennial travelers show interest in the extraordinary array of travel experiences offered by the National Parks.  Data collected in Destination Analysts biannual The State of the American Traveler Study paint a picture of a generation that fully appreciates the great outdoors.  When asked if quiet, peaceful destinations are typically the “best vacation spots,” the vast majority (80%) express agreement.   Similarly, more than 60 percent of Millennials agree that experiencing nature away from urban areas is an important part of their leisure travels.  Despite this positive overall sense, the generation shows marked discomfort with being disconnected, even on vacations.  Bratton shared a quote from a recent in-depth interview he conducted that captures the feeling of many in the generation.  Referring to Millennials, one participant said, “We may say we love the great outdoors, but being disconnected is a little scary.”

The State of the American Traveler sheds further light on this phenomenon.  When asked if they were deprived of the ability to text and check email for one week while on vacation, fully 71 percent of Millennials say they would feel “Very uncomfortable.”  By comparison, only one third of Baby Boomers felt similarly.

Uncomf

 

The Challenge:  Attracting Millennials in a Competitive World

Where the rubber really hits the road for the National Parks is with its competition.  Bratton showed that the generation’s travel expectations are extremely high and the competitive set faced by destinations like parks is not only domestic, but worldwide.  These younger Americans already travel more than their older counterparts, they show much high propensities to travel by plane (less by car) and are about twice as likely to take an international leisure trip.  This is not good news for parks that historically have relied on the traditional road trip for many of its visitor arrivals.  Additionally, the Millennial generation shows a general preference for the excitement of urban destinations over rural destinations.  When asked in The State of the American Traveler Study if they generally prefer big city travel experiences to rural ones like National Parks, the majority agreed that they tend toward urban the experiences.   The chart below illustrates this finding and highlights the competition faced by our parks.

Prefer Urban

 

Keys for Marketing to Millennials

In this environment of extreme competition, how can the Park Service reach young travelers?  Bratton suggested the following three general guidelines:

Stress Value:  The Millennial generation has not yet reached the peak of its earnings potential.  It also has not fully reached the life stage where its members enjoy the buying power benefits of dual income status.  Highlighting the value proposition of visiting the National Parks is clearly a winning strategy.

Embrace Their Need for Connectivity:  Bratton argued that Millennials’ strong desire to be connected to their networks is not only healthy, it is integral to their identities.   Purists who think that connectivity and the National Parks experience are somehow incompatible should rethink.  It is simply not something that can be ignored by those marketing travel to National Parks.  The community should emphasize experiences that generate bragging rights and allow these young travelers to envision exciting, active experiences with their friends and relatives. Bratton said, “While a baby boomer may dream of going off alone into the Sequoias like John Muir to commune with God, this imagery just isn’t going to appeal to younger travelers.”

Go Digital:  These digital natives require a highly-tailored digital approach that is both somewhat avant-garde and easy to consume.  Bratton said, “Young people of any generation can smell cool,” and encouraged the audience to think about positioning the parks experience in a way the generation finds hip, comfortable and exciting.  Making online content easy to access and consumer-friendly is also critical for a generation “well known for its lack of patience for poorly designed digital interfaces.”

Bratton’s full PowerPoint presentation can be downloaded here.

Visit our friends at the National Parks Hospitality Association to learn more about efforts to market our National Parks.

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Fun with Infographics: The Millennial Generation and New Travel Technologies

If you have any doubt that the Millennial Generation is the driving force behind the adoption of new technologies in travel industry, take a look at our latest State of the American Traveler infographic. It’s interesting to note, too, that Millennials use more traditional information sources at similar rates as their older counterparts.

Millennial-Infographics

Posts

 

 

Source: State of the American Traveler, July 2014. Destination Analysts, Inc.

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What a Chief Funster has in Common with a DMO Website

During the recent 2014 eTourism Summit held in San Francisco, CA, Destination Analysts listened to a special presentation by Andrew Smith, Chief Funster and winner of the Best Job in the World for Visit Australia. As Chief Funster, Andrew traveled across Australia to promote Sydney & New South Wales, documenting his experiences through social media to prove that New South Wales is the most fun destination in the world. Andrew was selected from over 124,000 applicants to fill the position. How did he win the Best Job in the World? He created an entry video that told a riveting and engaging story. Having conducted dozens of website usability studies for DMOs across the country, I quickly realized that elements of Andrew’s video also apply to successful DMO websites. I affirm that implementing the following guidelines will lead to a great DMO website:

1) Tell a story. Andrew narrates his video informing viewers that he’s visited ten countries in the past two months. He doesn’t just say this, but also shows it with action-packed footage of him in various countries. From the beginning of the video, it’s clear who Andrew is: he’s driven, ambitious, adventurous and cultured.

Based on my experience interviewing numerous travelers as they use DMO websites, the most successful sites are the ones that tell the story of who they are. For example, take FortWorth.com. From the homepage and throughout the website, Fort Worth presents itself as the “City of Cowboys and Culture.” While there is text on the site that describes Fort Worth as a destination where you can experience the American West, as well as cultural treasures, it’s the visually appealing images across the site that convey the message. Images of Longhorns and cowboys, museums, and Downtown tell website visitors exactly who Fort Worth is.

FtWorth

 

2) Cater to your audience. Critical qualifications for applying to be Chief Funster are having fun and the desire to travel. Andrew specifically compiled images of him having fun while traveling, showing the selection committee that he understands exactly what they’re looking for and why he should be hired.

Like Andrew who catered to the selection committee, successful DMO websites cater to its audience, whether it is non-locals who are intrigued by unique attractions, scenic beauty, shopping, music festivals, etc., or all of the above. This is something that constantly comes up in our website usability studies, and I certainly know is a key factor in keeping website users on a site.  ZionNationalPark.com does a great job of this. Website visitors to this site likely aren’t interested in an urban vacation consisting of fine dining, arts & culture or shopping. Those who come to the site want to be in nature, hike, and soak up Zion’s spectacular scenery – exactly what is depicted in the images on ZionNationalPark.com. Furthermore, the website includes the option to view it in one of several languages, demonstrating that ZionNationalPark.com is serving its international audience.

Zion National Park website usability

 

3) Differentiate. As previously mentioned, Andrew states and shows that he has traveled to ten countries in only two months. This is a very unique fact about Andrew, one that other applicants likely could not claim nor portray in their submission video, thus differentiating him from everyone else.

Likewise, DMO websites that truly captivate site visitors are ones that exhibit what is unique about the destination. I observe this in our website usability studies all the time. Website visitors want to know what they can do in the destination that they can’t do anywhere else. Upon arriving at the homepage of WyomingTourism.org, website visitors are immediately informed that they can experience Old Faithful Geyser in Yellowstone National Park, see Devil’s Tower National Monument, and visit Grand Teton National Park, all of which are offerings unique to the state of Wyoming.

Wy

 

 

Like Andrew Smith, a DMO website too, should tell a story, cater to its audience, and differentiate itself to attract and keep the attention of its website visitors.

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David Bratton Discusses The State of the American Traveler

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Bratton Speaks at Pennsylvania Tourism Forum

Americans are showing strong levels of optimism for leisure travel in the upcoming year. Yet, we have not fully recovered from the effects of the 2008 financial crisis and recession. Levels of expected (as well as actual) leisure travel are reserved compared to the period immediately before the crisis. On a positive note, however, it is clear that we’ve moved out of our strong post-recession desire for discounts and special offers, with traveler interest in these sharply diminishing in recent years.

In his recent keynote address to the Pennsylvania Association on Travel and Tourism (PATT) in Lancaster, Destination Analysts Founder and Managing Director David Bratton briefed the industry on the current state of leisure traveler sentiment. In his speech, Bratton presented results from Destination Analysts’ bi-annual The State of The American Traveler Survey. This comprehensive survey is the nation’s first and longest running tracking study of American leisure travel sentiment conducted exclusively for the destination marketing industry. Collected every six months from a representative sample of 2,000 domestic leisure travelers, the survey illustrates trends and opinions of our nation’s leisure traveling set.

Positive Outlook, but no Full Recovery Yet

Destination Analysts’ research shows that (in terms of expectations for travel in the upcoming year) Americans are indeed gung-ho for more travel, with the vast majority either planning to hold constant the number of trips they will take (60.2%) or increase their travels (29.2%). Only 10.6 percent expect to cut back relative to the most recent twelve month period. According to Bratton, “it’s clear that the vast majority of Americans are feeling good about their likelihood of traveling this year.”

Bratton pointed out that while this was great news for the industry, to the surprise of many in the audience, “we have not yet fully recovered our mojo from those heady pre-recession days.” The chart below shows the detail. When we compared the average for the two years immediately prior to the financial crisis of 2008, we see a significant drop in the proportion of Americans who are expecting to travel more. In the two years immediately prior to the recession, 36.2 percent of leisure travelers said they would travel more. This compares to only 31.5 percent for the most recent two years.

Bratton explained that a similar story can be seen in the percent of travelers expecting to cut back on their travels. As the chart below shows, prior to the recessionary period fewer than one in ten (9.6%) of American leisure travelers said they would cut back on travel. In the most recent two years, this result is slightly higher at an average of 11.3 percent.

Clearly we have a way to go.

This story of strong (yet from an historical perspective diminished) travel expectations is supported by the actual number of leisure trips (50 miles or more one way) that Americans report having taken in the past year. As the chart below illustrates, the annual number of leisure trips taken by the typical American is down, from 5.4 trips in the immediate pre-recession period to 4.7 trips in the most recent five survey periods.

Spending Expectations Tell the Story

Bratton noted that “the real key to understanding current traveler confidence may be seen in looking at their spending expectations.” Nowhere is the picture clearer than when we compare the proportion of travelers who expect to increase their travel budget in the next year. The chart below shows that in the two years prior to the recessionary crash, 42.4 percent of traveler said they expected to increase their leisure travel spending in the upcoming year. In the most recent two years, this average stands at only 32.1 percent, nearly a 25 percent decrease.

While spending expectations are weak, Bratton pointed to numerous positive signals in leisure traveler confidence. These included greatly reduced proportions of travelers saying their personal financial situations, gasoline costs or airfare prices have kept them from traveling more than they would like to have traveled in the past year. Most encouraging, however, may be the marked decrease in consumer interest in travel discounts and bargains. Immediately after the financial collapse nearly 70 percent of travelers said they would be “actively seeking” travel discounts and bargains in the upcoming year. As the chart below shows, there has been a sea-change in this attitude. In the past year, just over 40 percent of American leisure travelers will be discount and bargain hunting.

“American leisure travelers are ready to go,” says Bratton, “but make no mistake, we’re not fully back. Not yet. While one could chose to be discouraged by these findings, a more constructive way of looking at the situation is that we have room to grow. As the economy continues to recover we expect to see more and more Americans traveling and generating even more support for our state and local economies.”

Click here for the complete PowerPoint presentation.

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