With the Memorial Day weekend and the Indy 500 over, American families can rev up their own engines for another great classic–the traditional summer vacation. By all accounts, the travel industry expects record numbers of vacationers on the move between now and Labor Day.
Spurred by a stronger economy that includes high employment and low inflation, consumer confidence is at a five-year high. That means Americans are willing to spend more money for a nice summer holiday.
“Americans will take a record 230 million trips of 100 miles or more away from home, up 2 percent from last summer,” said William S. Norman, president and chief executive of the Washington-based Travel Industry Association, at a recent forecasting session. “But, more importantly, they will splurge. American will take a break from the thrifty 1990s and turn the clock back to the luxury ’80s as high-ticket items will be on many travelers’ `have to have’ lists rather than `wish I had’ lists.”
“Interest has jumped for some high-ticket vacations including city trips, resorts, theme parks, casinos and cruises,” Norman said. “Interest in visiting Alaska, generally considered a more high-ticket destination due to the expense involved in traveling there, is up 3 percentage points, and places outside the U.S. are up on travelers wish lists.”
Norman noted that interest in visiting state and national parks dropped by 3 percent from last year and touring in an RV dropped by 4 percent.
The sense of Americans’ willingness to travel and where they want to go comes from TIA’s Travelometer, a forecast based on monthly telephone interviews with a sample of 1,500 U.S. adults who divulge information on pleasure and vacation trips, the nature of the trips and their feeling on economic conditions.
The optimistic outlook for summer travel comes not only from TIA, but from the American Automobile Association, which provides its own perspective on the vacation scene.
Sharing TIA’s bullish summer travel outlook, Graeme Clarke, AAA senior vice president, predicted that the weak U.S. dollar would keep more Americans from traveling abroad, but lure many Europeans to the U.S. He also noted that discounts are available in nearly all areas of travel, that auto travel remains a great bargain, that the higher cost of gasoline won’t impact travel and that destinations that feature gambling are growing in popularity at a “staggering rate.”
AAA’s survey of auto travel managers indicate the most popular domestic destinations for this summer are Orlando, the perennial No. 1 because of Walt Disney World; Myrtle Beach, S.C.; Grand Canyon National Park, Ariz.; and Williamsburg, Va. Myrtle Beach, a newcomer to the list, replaced Washington, D.C. Foreign favorites are London, Cancun, Paris, Frankfurt and Dublin.
TIA’s Norman cited other factors from its survey: Travelers plan to spend $1,076 per trip, up 9 percent over last year. They also plan to take slightly longer trips–7.9 nights on their longest vacation, up from 7.5 nights last summer.
“Interestingly, we do not believe we are seeing the death of the much talked-about weekend vacation trend,” Norman offered. Instead, he said, Americans are feeling better about their pocketbooks and are willing to splurge on a longer vacation, but 58 percent of those surveyed said they plan to take two vacations trips of 100 miles or more away from home.
While there’s more interest this summer in visiting cities, resorts, theme parks, casinos and taking cruises, overall TIA’s 73 percent of Americans prefer to spend their vacations at a beach or lake, 70 percent with family or friends, 68 percent in cities.
survey shows that 73 percent of Americans prefer to spend their vacations at a beach or lake, 70 percent with family or friends and 68 percent in cities. Visiting historical places, attending cultural events, going fishing and camping/hiking/climbing follow.
Based on its survey, AAA said the Southeast will be the favored auto travel destination by 27 percent of those traveling this summer, followed by the West, 24 percent; the Midwest, 18 percent; the Great Lakes, 15 percent; and the Northeast, 14 percent. The remaining 2 percent of auto travel will be to Canada and Mexico. The AAA said 80 percent of all summer vacation travel will be by auto, 16 percent by plane, the remainder by ship, train and bus.
A family of four–two adults and two children–can expect to spend an average of $221.80 a day for meals, lodging and vehicle operating costs, Clarke said. The figure, $6.50 more a day than last year, does not include money for amusements, admission fees, tolls, shopping, parking or tipping.
Clarke said the average daily cost for lodging is $91, based on a two-person, two-bed rate and $12 extra for children. Meal expenses, he added, run $102, excluding tips and cocktails. And the cost for operating a vehicle is $28.80 for a 300-mile trip in a car averaging 21 miles a gallon. The AAA figures are based on rates and prices for the 30,000 AAA-inspected and approved accommodations and restaurants listed in its TourBook guides. Vehicle operating costs come from AAA’s driving costs study.
Travelers should expect prices to be higher in big cities. The AAA figures show the Mid-Atlantic states to be the priciest part of the country, with lodging averaging $103 a night and meals $122 a day. The Mid-Atlantic is followed by the West, New England, the Southwest, Southeast and Great Lakes. Lowest average prices are in the Midwest, with lodging at $69 a night and meals at $83 a day.
“Although the travel industry has fully recovered from the recession and is in its best shape in at least five years,” Clarke said, “discounting abounds. Airlines, lodging, cruise lines and car-rental companies are all offering summer travel bargains.”
Those discounts may well pay dividends for travelers looking to indulge themselves.
