By Goodnews Buekor
A recent survey by Destination Analysis revealed the impact of inflation, gas prices, and other economic factors on American travelers.
Although their high zest and commitment to travel remain unchanged, gas prices and inflation have compelled several American travelers to make some amends for their planned trips.
A survey carried out on 4,000 American travelers revealed that Many Americans seem to feel economic headwinds are inevitable. From the survey, 59.0% of American travelers believe an economic recession may begin in the U.S. this year. Just 27.8% believe inflationary rates will drop this year, and just 24.2% believe the U.S. will experience strong economic growth.
Inflation in consumer prices has led 23.2% of American travelers to cancel upcoming trips. In comparison, 38.3% of American travelers agree that high prices have kept them from traveling in the past month.
If gasoline prices don’t drop, 58.0% of American travelers predict they will take fewer road trips this Spring and Summer, and 60.4% predict they will live closer to home on their road trips.
Apart from other challenges American travelers experience, such as flight delay or cancellation, many travelers pointed out their reason for possible cancellation of further journeys, due to financial concerns.
“What is more substantive in the minds of American travelers’ is the increased financial costs. When asked what has deterred them from traveling more than they would have preferred in the past six months, the top reasons were:
- Gas is too expensive (47%),
- The general cost of travel is too expensive right now (39%),
- Personal financial reasons (31%)
- Airfare is too expensive (27%).”
Also, the proportion of travelers who feel that the summer season is an excellent time to spend money on travel has declined to 28%, the lowest level reported so far this year. Conversely, fewer American travelers say luxury travel experiences are important to their leisure trips (35.6% down from 40.0% last month). While the average reported leisure travel budget for the next 12 months is $3,857, this is still down from February, which was $4,283. Overall, American travelers’ optimism about the financial future is dimming somewhat, as the proportion of travelers who feel they will be financially better off next year compared to this year has declined and travelers are putting their budgets in check.
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