There will be a significantly fewer number of Americans going on vacation trips the upcoming summer because of financial concerns associated with recession, according to an Associated Press-GFK poll. The survey found that just 42 per cent of Americans are planning to take a leisure trip this summer, which is a decrease from the 49 per cent in 2005.

The report states that vacation plans depend on how much money people make - less money, lea are the chances to take a vacation. For instance, individuals whose earnings make more than $100,000 and up, were much more likely to be planning some type of a leisure trip - more than two-thirds. This is to compare with one-third of those whose income is less than $50,000, and 48 per cent of those earning between $50,000 and $100,000.

One third of the respondents reported that they have already canceled at least one trip this year due to the financial difficulties. In addition, the poll found that 12 per cent of those planning a trip this summer said that they would stay in their home state, 67 per cent will just go to another state and 19 per cent will travel outside the United States. It was also revealed that 20 per cent of those planning a vacation the upcoming summer will stay closer to home this year because of economic concerns, whereas 23 per cent plan to save some money by staying with family or close friends instead of paying for a hotel.

However, in spite of the current state of economic crisis, taking leisure vacations appear to be very tempting to a smaller number of individuals. According to the poll, 7 per cent of all Americans and 18 per cent of those whose earnings are $100,000 plus, are planning to take more elaborate and better trips, because of lower costs.

When brought down by age, it was found that those who were the most likely to take a trip were between the ages of 30 and 49 years, with 48 per cent planning to have a summer vacation. Among individuals with the ages between 18 and 29 years, 43 per cent reported that they would travel, and among those with the ages between 50 and 64 years, there was 41 per cent who said that they were planning a vacation trip. The significant drop was observed among older Americans, aged 65 and older, with just 34 per cent making summer plans to travel

Arch Woodside, a professor of marketing at Boston College who specialization is travel and tourism, explained the overall decrease in summer travel as a significant drop that will have a huge impact on the travel industry, especially in places like Florida and New York City where tourism is a major business in summer. Professor Woodside added that travel business could be even worse next year as new economic realities sink in.

The poll was conducted from April 16-20 by land line and by means of cellular phone interviews with a random sample of 1,000 adults throughout the U.S.

Sources: The Associated Press

Tags: Travel

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