Politics Influencing an Increasing Number of U.S. Trips

 

According to the latest Longwoods International tracking study of American travelers, 42% of them said that the political climate of destinations greatly impacts their travel decisions, up from 24% last September. Conversely, only 20% reported that a destination’s political climate had no impact on their destination choices, down from 30% in September.

 

“Politics in America is playing an ever larger role in the nation’s tourism economy,” said Amir Eylon, President and CEO of Longwoods International. “Political considerations are driving both a growing number of domestic travel choices and the desirability of the U.S. as a potential travel destination for international visitors from around the world.”

 

Regarding the cost of travel, 42% of travelers expect costs to be higher this year, while 17% expect travel prices to go down. In March, 31% of travelers indicated that airfare prices had a great impact on their future travel plans, up from 26% in January. Perceptions of travel costs do vary by political affiliation, with 57% of Democrats expecting price increases, compared with 43% for independents and 30% for Republicans.

 

The survey, supported by Miles Partnership, was fielded March 3, 2025 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 Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, 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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