Amidst Economic Woes, Americans Hitting the Brakes on Travel

The tourism industry risks being hit with significant declines in leisure travel volume and spending according to the findings of Destination Analysts’ bi-annual The State of the American Traveler survey released today.

The survey of 1,000 American leisure travelers shows that 45.8 percent expect to reduce the number of leisure trips they will take in the coming year in direct response to the overall economic climate.

General travel spending expectations are also depressed, with 29.8 percent saying they will spend less for leisure in the next 12 months, a figure that has more than doubled from just six months prior.

The average number of trips the typical American has taken in the past 12 months has already fallen 7.3 percent to 5.1. The top impediments to travel continue to be high gasoline prices (57.8 percent), personal financial reasons (49.5 percent) and expensive airfare (35.2 percent).

The percentage of survey respondents who have cited these factors as having prevented them from traveling as much as they would have preferred have all grown significantly since the survey was first conducted in July 2006.

The State of the American Traveler survey is conducted every six months by Destination Analysts. The summer 2008 survey was conducted online amongst a nationally representative sample of adult Americans.