US: Understanding travel spending this holiday season
The rapid
this year signals that Americans don’t mind stepping out amid the rising cases of COVID-19 infections.
But how much are they willing to spend on travel this season?
A study conducted across 1,200 US adults by YouGov found that consumers who plan on traveling this holiday season are most likely to spend less than $250 on travel (21%). About the same share of this audience tell us they are planning to spend anywhere between $250-$499 (20%). When it comes to holiday spending on travel, roughly the same share of US adults say that they plan to spend $500-$749 (13%) as they are to spend between $1,000-$1,249 (13%).
The survey also asked US adults who plan to travel during the holiday season about their preferred method to pay for their holiday travel. The results show that more than half of the respondents say they would use their debit card or savings account to pay for it (53%).
Further to this study, we found that half of US adults who plan to travel this holiday season will use credit cards to pay for their holiday travel (51%). Drilling deeper into this data suggests that respondents over the age of 65 years are most likely to say so than their younger age cohorts (18-29: 55%; 30-44: 44%; 45-64: 50%; 65+: 61%).
One in ten American adults plan to use money from their investments to pay for their holiday travel (10%).
So how long are US adults traveling for?
A three-day trip during the holiday season emerged most popular among US adults who plan to travel this holiday season (19%). This audience is followed by consumers who plan to holiday for five days (16%). It’s also worth noting that about one in seven of American adults tell us they plan to take a trip of 10 days or more (14%).
With the rise of infections related to the Omicron variant, it’s not surprising that consumers remain wary about their travel plans. We asked consumers who plan to travel during the holiday season how concerned they are about contracting the Covid-19 virus at their travel destination.
Americans seem divided on this issue, with 51% saying they are not concerned about getting infected and 47% expressing concern for catching the virus.
Having travel insurance seems top of mind for large shares of Americans amid rising Covid-19 cases and changing travel plans. The data shows that two in five travelers consider a travel insurance important for the trips they plan to take this holiday season (39%).
Receive monthly topical insights about the travel and tourism industry, straight to your inbox. Sign up today.
Discover more travel and tourism content here