Recent research by Destination Analysts reports a worrisome decline in travel budgets. The typical American traveler expects to spend just over $3,500 on leisure travel during the next 12 months, the lowest average budget since October 2021.
Nearly half of American travelers report that high travel prices are a deterrent to travel, says Destination Analysts.
About a third of travelers (36 percent) say that it’s a bad time to spend on travel right now, exceeding the percentage (29 percent) who say it’s a good time to spend on travel.
Perhaps as a result of this sentiment, leisure day trips have grown at a higher rate than leisure overnight trips.
Forty-five percent of Americans say they’ve taken a leisure overnight trip in the last month while 54 percent say they’ve taken a leisure day trip.
On a more positive note, fears of a recession continue to decline and more than half of Americans feel the most financially optimistic than they have since July 2021.
Story courtesy Visit NC NewsLink, a weekly e-newsletter from the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina. NewsLink provides information to nearly 4,800 tourism industry leaders, media and government representatives across the state. It distributes valuable information on Visit NC’s marketing and promotional efforts, tourism-related research, state, national and international trends, media leads, updates on conferences and events, and more.