Each quarter for the past 10 years, MMGY Global has surveyed U.S. adults to learn about their travel habits and measure their future travel intentions. The latest results of the travelhorizons study, conducted in October 2016, reveal that six in ten (59%) U.S. adults plan to take at least one overnight leisure trip during the next six months. While the percentage of adults planning to travel remains unchanged from the same period in 2015, the average number of trips has increased significantly.
In October 2016, U.S. adults reported that they expected to take an average of 2.7 vacations during the next six months, up significantly from 2.3 vacations in October 2015. They also expect to spend more on travel. When asked if they plan to spend more, less, or about the same amount on leisure travel during the next six months compared to the same six months last year, nearly three in ten (27%) expect to spend more, compared to 13% who expect to spend less—resulting in a net 14 point positive difference in vacation spending intentions.
travelhorizons™ also measures U.S. adults’ attitudes towards different aspects of travel through the Traveler Sentiment Index™ (TSI). The TSI is derived from six variables: interest in travel, time for travel, personal finances available for travel, affordability of travel, quality of service and perceived safety of travel, and is indexed to the results of the first survey wave in the first quarter of 2007. The current TSI is 117, up one point from July 2016 (116) and up four points from the same period in 2015 (113).
It is interesting to note that the safety of travel component of the TSI dropped to record lows in the third quarter of 2016 (88), but fully recovered this quarter (102). Affordability of travel (173) rates the highest of all components, followed by finances available for travel (121) and quality of service (119), meaning U.S adults have very positive perceptions of these travel components.
To purchase the travelhorizons™ report or for more information, please visit travelhorizons™ section or contact research@mmgyglobal.com.
