KANSAS CITY, MO – Delving into topics such as the classic American road trip and the steady rise of cannabis tourism, MMGY’s Travel Intelligence released the “Summer Edition” of its renowned and wide-reaching research study, Portrait of American Travelers. An examination of the evolving habits, preferences and behaviors of today’s U.S. travel consumers, the quarterly survey found that 8 in 10 active leisure travelers are interested in taking an international trip within the next two years, potentially signaling a new era of growth for Americans venturing abroad.
“With traveler interest and intent holding steady into summer, it’s evident that Americans are eagerly making their plans to travel and escape in the near future, despite – or because of – world events and financial burdens,” said Chris Davidson, Executive Vice President of Travel Intelligence. “While it’s encouraging to see strong interest in international outbound travel, we’re also cognizant that the national political climate and global tensions could temper this enthusiasm as the year progresses. That said, we remain quite optimistic about the overall travel forecast based on what consumers are telling us.”
Additional key takeaways from the report follow.
- Travel Intentions Remain Strong: Compared to last year, travel intentions have increased across almost all household incomes. Meanwhile, travel spending intentions for the year ahead have reached the highest level recorded by MMGY since the COVID-19 pandemic. This increase can be attributed mainly to Boomers and those with household incomes of $100,000 or more.
- Road Trips Reign Supreme: More travelers than ever say that they took a road trip in the last 12 months (64%), nearly doubling the 33% answering as such in 2015. Younger generations and those with kids are most likely to take a road trip in the next 12 months, motivated by spontaneity and the ability to explore multiple places.
- Hot Domestic Destinations: Hawaii (67%), Florida (64%), Colorado (59%) and California (59%) continue to be the top states drawing interest from leisure travelers, with Florida, Colorado and California all displaying statistically significant increases year over year.
- Cannabis Tourism: More than a third of travelers are interested in participating in a cannabis-related activity while on vacation, with half of those travelers interested in visiting a cannabis shop. Surprisingly, a quarter of these interested travelers do not use cannabis regularly but voice being open to cannabis-related experiences while traveling.
- Generational Differences: Finally, while other generations are either witnessing an increase in travel intentions or are starting to level off, Gen Z continues to steadily decline. This may be due to the increased pressure of inflation and trip costs on younger travelers, who have less discretionary income overall.
The article MMGY quarterly travels survey reveals rising U.S. interest international vacations first appeared in TravelDailyNews International.
