Rising costs in US aren’t deterring Americans from traveling this autumn
While it’s been a busy summer for travel, with most of the world opening up after over two years of coronavirus-related restrictions, Americans’ appetite for vacations isn’t satiated yet.
According to Tripadvisor’s 2022 Fall Travel Index — based on the platform’s first-party search data, combined with propriety consumer sentiment data — 61% of U.S. respondents are planning trips this autumn, if slightly differently than they’d imagined.
Even while faced with record inflation rates, high gas prices and the continued presence of COVID19, global consumers show no indications that travel demand will abate anytime soon.
According to the Index, 37% of Americans still intend to travel this fall as initially planned, in spite of inflation. Globally, 34% also indicated that they intend to travel as planned between this month and November.
Pent-up demand is prompting Americans to cut back on other expenses to ensure they can take their fall vacations. In fact, half of Americans (50%) plan to do more traveling this autumn and two-thirds (66%) plan to spend more on it than they did in the same period last year.
The cost of living is having an impact on Americans’ choices. Nearly half (45%) of U.S. travelers said that price influenced their chosen travel dates and two-thirds (66%) consider affordability the main criteria in their trip planning process.
Thirty-five percent of respondents said they’ll likely take trips of shorter duration, while nearly one-quarter (24%) indicated they’ll likely choose a destination that’s closer to home than originally planned.