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Several newsworthy events have impacted where Americans are interested in traveling to this spring. According to travel insurance comparison site Squaremouth, several notable trends are emerging.
The survey found that world events have definitely had an impact on where Americans want to go. According to the site, the relaxed travel restrictions to Cuba boosted travel to the country by 178 percent.
Spring travel to Puerto Rico dropped 24 percent on concerns of the Zika virus. However, the Bahamas, which is Zika-free, reported an increase in visitors of 14 percent.
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Terror attacks definitely affected Brussels and Turkey. Belgium saw losses of approximately 12 percent and Turkey was harder hit by a drop off in Russian travelers and saw declines in spring travel around 55 percent.
There was good news for France, which was also hit by recent terror attacks. The destination is still among the top five most popular spring travel destinations, losing just one spot to Spain on the list. The top five destinations for U.S. travelers in spring of 2016 were: Mexico, Italy, Spain, France and the UK.
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Data showed that terrorism was definitely a concern for U.S. travelers. The number of travelers looking for "terrorism coverage" when buying a travel insurance policy increased by 71 percent - for those traveling to the UK, the increase was 275 percent.
Profile of the Spring Traveler
According to Squaremouth's data, baby boomers were the most likely to insure their spring travel and they accounted for between 40-49 percent of customers. They were also likely to travel longer. Travelers over age 65 typically spent around $2,600 per person and traveled for 16 days or longer.
Millennials spend the least amount on spring travel, around $1,200 per person, and families with children take the shortest spring trips, with an average of 10 days.
Spring trips were also more expensive in 2016. The average cost of a trip this spring was $6,940, an increase of 9.5 percent from 2015. And the rise in price is a trend. Over the last three years, trip cost has risen by 25 percent.
Italy is the most expensive of the top five destinations, with Americans spending an average of $4,882 on travel to the country. Mexico, the most popular spring travel destination, is the least expensive of the top five, with Americans spending an average of $2,351 on their trip.
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