With All The Madness In The Market, Will They Still Travel?

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The recent gyrations of the stock market are beginning to affect the leisure travel plans and habits of Americans as revealed in the results of our October 2008 travelhorizons™ survey, co-authored with the Travel Industry Association in Washington, DC. This nationally projectable survey of approximately 2,300 U.S. adults was conducted during the week of October 13, 2008.

As revealed in the survey, a robust seven out of ten (71%) active leisure travelers intend to take an overnight trip of 50 miles or more from home during the next six months. This is the same percentage recorded in the October 2007 travelhorizons™ survey, thereby revealing there has been no further degradation in the overall intended incidence of travel among Americans despite the tumultuous developments in the financial markets. Even more encouraging, almost half (48%) of all respondents stated they were not planning any changes to their future travel plans as a result of the current financial crisis. That's the good news.

Here's the challenging news: those same travelers are likely to travel differently, and their pursuit of what they consider to be "good value" is the primary reason why. Their expectations in this regard are summarized below:

Clearly, it's all about the money. And the value.

On a more encouraging note, fully one out of five (22%) leisure travelers expects to stay more nights, and one out of six (16%) expects to spend more overall. These results corroborate what we have been preaching for several months now: American travelers will be trading down, but not out.

Also on an encouraging note, the Traveler Sentiment Index (a derivative of six separate measurements taken in travelhorizons™) remained at 78 in October, the same value calculated in July of 2008 prior to the precipitous decline in the financial markets. And three of the Index's component measurements actually displayed positive trends: the quality of service when traveling, the safety of travel and, perhaps most importantly, the affordability of travel.