Top Trends in the Travel Industry

The two strongest indicators of consumer confidence are annual travel incidence and spending.

The later has just reached a five-year high, and the percentage of US adults who traveled for leisure in 2014

has almost recovered to pre-recession levels.

Consumers are finally treating themselves to a vacation again and are not watching every dollar spent on

relaxing.

Millennials While 18 - 34 year-olds are in general the demographic most likely to travel, they are not the highest spenders.

But considering that over 70% of Millennials traveled in 2014 it is a demographic all of us should watch closely.

The last time US consumers were this confident and leisure travel spending this high was around 2008, right

before the big crash.

In 2009, the amount of US consumers qualifying as leisure travelers dropped down to 61%.

When 4 out of every ten consumers go 12 months without spending a dime on leisure travel, it has a huge effect on the travel industry. before we get back to pre-

recession numbers, this is a very encouraging trend.

Baby Boomers:The group of 45- 64-year-olds is greatly

lagging behind in terms of numbers- almost 50% of that group is skipping

vacation every year. To get the number of Americans traveling incidence back to the pre-recession number of 70%, we need to

get baby boomers confident enough to start spending on leisure travel again.

Why People Are Not Traveling

Let’s take a look at the 3 top reasons why parts of the US population are not taking leisure trips:

• Too busy to take vacations (35% of Millennials are in that group) • Financial considerations • No desire to travel (a whopping 35% of people over 55)

Who Travels Another positive trend we see is that family vacations (typically the most

expensive trips to book) are up almost 6 % in the last four years.

When family travel is up, it's another strong sign of consumer confidence.

Spending Trends

One encouraging trend we have seen in the last three years is that there is a steady climb in people spending more than 2% of

their income on vacations.

When that happens, we see a change in the type of vacation consumers are taking. While weekend getaways of 3 or fewer nights are down by 2% (41% to 39%), long trips (7 nights or

more) are up by over 4% (30%-34%) from 2013.

International travel

went from about 28% of leisure trips taken in 2011 to about 33% in 2013, and the up International travel went from about 28% of

leisure trips taken in 2011 to about 33% in 2013, and the upwards trend continued through 2014.

US & Europe

One trend that is unique to the US market is the fact that traveling is not very high on people's wish list of discretionary spending.

While dining, nightlife, electronics and home improvements top the list and fashion, cars are on the bottom, travel and tourism come in fifth place.

For comparison in the UK, France, and Germany, travel-related spending comes in at the top spot.

Lodging Trends Over 90% of travelers have consistently purchased some form of paid

lodging over the last four years- not only once, but twice a year. Also, 4 out of 5 accommodation bookings were purchased individually and

not as part of a package.

Consumer Confidence Is Rising

In conclusion, more people are planning to travel longer and further.

All these signs are exciting and show that the travel industry is alive and well.

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