One often hears complaints about just how expensive travel is, to even nearby places, not to speak of that dream vacation halfway around the world.
Whether it is the cost of staying in a hotel or an Airbnb (ABNB) -), gas for the car, or airplane fuel and tickets, the cost of many aspects of the travel experience rose in double digits in the past two years.
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But numbers released by the sustainable-group-adventure firm Intrepid Travel suggest that people as a whole aren't traveling any less.
The survey of 2,000 American adults 18 and older about their travel plans for the upcoming year found that 57% plan to travel the same amount in 2024 as they did in 2023 while 26% hope to travel more in the coming year.
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'Prioritizing travel over buying homes and other investments...'
Only a small percentage plan to travel less while 55% said they would make a point to prioritize travel over other nonessential luxuries to bring down the cost.
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"People are still prioritizing travel over many other luxuries, even including perhaps buying homes and other investments," Matt Berna, Intrepid Travel's president for the Americas, told TheStreet.
"It really speaks to how many people live, their lifestyles and what they want to look forward that they continue to consider travel as a top priority for their own life balance."
For those who will not travel as much in 2024, budget was the primary culprit — two-thirds (66%) named not having enough money as the reason they planned to travel less while 22% said they did not have the time and 16% named safety concerns.
To bring down costs, seven out of the 10 people who plan to travel as much or the same plan to book trips during the spring and autumn — to avoid the peak costs of summer travel — and also to choose less popular destinations.
Intrepid's numbers and booking trends show both a strong interest in what it calls "Alternative Europe," or less tourist-popular countries such as Slovenia, Albania and Finland as well as several countries in South America.
While hardly a cheap destination, South Korea has also been seeing a burst of interest from U.S.-based travelers.
These are the groups traveling more than ever (they're not always the richest)
Berna explained that inflation has hit those who are paying high interest rates the hardest, while older groups who have paid off their homes are increasingly using disposable income to fund travel.
Alternatively, younger demographics who feel that homeownership is increasingly out of reach are putting the money they do have toward travel.
"What we're seeing in terms of budget and spend might be counterintuitive but we've seen a trend towards the higher end in terms of experiences and the average selling price for holidays," Berna said.
"Part of that is the fact that higher-net-worth individuals are still continuing to spend money they have in savings that's less affected by inflation and interest rates.
"For people in their 30s and 40s, interest rates have a big impact on disposable income, and that's the group [from which] we're seeing softening sales [while] the 18 to 20s and the 50 to 60s [have] been very strong. It really depends on where you are in life."
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