Vacation spending - food, accommodations take priority over shopping, transport

Vacations are a time to relax, explore, destress, and of course, splurge a little. Whether it's chasing a breathtaking sunset or indulging in a suite with a mountain view, holidays are often marked by the sneaky additions to vacation budgets.

In this piece, we’re exploring holidaymaker’s spending intent across different categories of products, services and experiences on their next vacation in the coming 12 months, compared to their previous ones within the last 12 months.

Data from YouGov Surveys: Serviced reveals that people are most likely to spend more on food/eating out (31%) on their next vacation compared to ones they’ve been on in the last 12 months. Activities/excursions (28%) and accommodations (28%) follow at second position.

Shopping (18%) is the vacation-time activity that could see less spends devoted to it, followed by transportation at destination (15%) and flights (15%).

A quarter of consumers expect to spend more on wellness-focussed activities during their next holiday (25%), while 14% expect to spend less on this category. But wellness is also the category travelers are most likely to spend about the same (39%) on their next holiday compared to last.

As for categories travelers expect to spend the same on during their next vacation, wellness activities top the list (39%), followed by shopping (38%). All but one category (flights at 30%), follow at third position - food/eating out, activities/excursions, accommodations, transportation at destination (37% each).

Vacation-time spending patterns by market

Travelers in India and the UAE account for the largest proportion of those across all markets surveyed who expect to spend more generously on all listed categories:

• Food/eating out (India 58%, UAE 54%)
• Accommodations (India 50%, UAE 47%)
• Transportation (India 54%, UAE 44%)
• Activities/excursions (India 57%, UAE 51%)
• Wellness (India 57%, UAE 53%)
• Shopping (India 56%, UAE 54%)
• Flights (UAE 46%, India 39%)

Focussing only on the European markets surveyed, Poles lead in spending more on several vacation-time pursuits:

• food/eating out (38%), accommodations (35%), transportation (27%), activities and excursions (35%) and shopping (35%).

While Brits are the most likely to spend more for spending more on flights (25%), Italians (20%) and Germans (18%) are most likely to spend more on wellness

In the US and Great Britian, travelers are most likely to increase spending on food/eating out (20% and 27% respectively) on their next vacation compared to their last.

Now for categories travelers’ expect to spend less on:

Indonesians lead across markets in spending less in several categories:

• Flights (23%, followed by travelers in France, Spain and the UAE at 18% each)
• Accommodations (18% for  both Indonesians and the French)
• Transportation (22%), followed by Spanish (20%)

French are the most likely to spend less on food/eating out (21%), activities/excursions (19%, so are the Italians at 19%), wellness (21%) and shopping (at 30%, closely followed by Italians at 28%).

In the US, Americans are most likely to spend less on shopping (15%) and food/eating out (14%) on their next vacation. In Britian, travelers are most likely to cut back spending on shopping (13%).

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Methodology: YouGov Surveys: Serviced provide quick survey results from
nationally representative or targeted audiences in multiple markets. The data is based on surveys of adults aged 18+ years in 17 markets with sample sizes varying between 511 and 2051 for each market. All surveys were conducted online in January 2024. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples. Learn more about YouGov Surveys: Serviced.
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