"Due to the challenging economic outlook, rising fuel prices and the declining U.S. dollar abroad, money is tight for some and our survey shows that one-third of Americans are in fact changing how they travel just to save on costs," said Jim Kovarik, GM of AOL Travel. "Despite this, Americans won't forgo their summer vacations.”
Other top-line survey findings include:
Will Fuel Prices and Terrorism Affect Travel?
The survey found that increases in fuel prices and threats of terrorism are not affecting travel plans. Sixty nine percent of those surveyed said fuel prices will not influence where they plan to vacation and 79% said terrorism is not a concern. Additionally, 53% of Americans are planning week-long or longer vacations and 60% of those surveyed are planning to travel to destinations that are more than six hours from their homes.
Summer “Hot Spots”
Sixty-six percent of Americans said they plan to stay in the U.S. this summer while 46% plan to utilize their vacations to visit family and friends. For Americans planning to take trips overseas, 10% plan to travel to Europe, 19% plan to travel internationally to destinations other than Europe and 12% plan to take a cruise. Additionally, 56% of those surveyed plan to return to a destination they have visited before and more than 67% do not plan to make the beach their primary summer vacation destination or include an amusement park in their plans.
Travel Resources
Ninety-six percent of Americans that have booked travel deals via the Internet found that they were actually legitimate, not scams. Additionally, 51% of those surveyed plan to book all of their summer vacation plans on the Internet but 42% prefer to speak with a real person when booking summer travel. Finally, 48% of Americans said they are influenced by Internet user reviews of where to go and that these reviews play a role in helping them decide where they will stay.
