Holiday Travel Plans Cautious Compared to Past Increases – Longwoods International

 

According to the latest Longwoods International tracking study of American travelers, holiday travel planning points to a season comparable to 2023, with 19% predicting more travel than last year, 64% planning about the same amount of travel as 2023 and 18% expecting to travel less than last year. In contrast, a year ago 23% of travelers expected more holiday travel, 58% were planning about the same amount of travel, and 19% predicted less holiday travel than the previous year. Thirty percent of travelers say inflation will greatly impact their travel decisions in the next 12 months, up from 24% in July.

 

“Higher costs due to inflation and perceptions about the relative strength of the economy and job market appear to be making travelers more cautious about holiday travel planning when compared with 2023,” said Amir Eylon, President and CEO of Longwoods International. “If these trends continue as we get closer to the holidays, we can expect holiday travel and spending to be relatively flat for 2024.”

 

Twenty-three percent of travelers expect to spend more on travel this holiday season, down from 28% in 2023, likely reflecting recent lows in inflation having an impact on price expectations. And 55% of travelers expect to spend about the same on holiday travel this year, up from 49% in 2023.

 

The survey, supported by Miles Partnership, was fielded October 9, 2024 using a national sample randomly drawn from a consumer panel of 1,000 adults, ages 18 and over. Quotas were used to match Census targets for age, gender, and region to make the survey representative of the U. S. population.

 

Longwoods International is a leading travel and tourism research consultancy with headquarters in Columbus, Ohio and Toronto Canada, and offices in Florida, North Carolina, New York, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin. It conducts Longwoods Travel USA®, the largest ongoing survey of American travelers, as well as image, advertising effectiveness, advertising return on investment, sentiment, and other custom research in 12 countries around the globe.

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