New Research Reveals Americans Intentions for Holiday Travel

Americans are eager to travel for the holidays despite the pandemic.

In a good sign for the travel industry, the latest TravelHorizons survey conducted by MMGY Global found that Americans do not want to stay home.

The research showed that of people who are planning to travel in the next six months, half of the respondents intend to take trips between November and early January, with 25 percent traveling for Thanksgiving, 31 percent traveling for the December holidays and 15 percent for New Year’s celebrations.

The holiday travel boom is led by the younger generation, who outweigh their counterparts in their desire to explore in the coming months.

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According to the TravelHorizons research, 35 percent of Millennials will travel for Thanksgiving while just 23 percent of Gen-X will. For Boomers, 18 percent of younger Boomers are planning Thanksgiving travel and only 8 percent of older Boomers.

Plans for travel during the December holidays yielded similar results. Millennials once again led other generations with 43 percent planning to travel, while only 26 percent of Gen-X, 19 percent of younger Boomers and 8 percent of older Boomers will travel.

Most holiday travel is geared around visits with family with 45 percent saying they are traveling to visit family or friends. Of those, 42 percent plan on staying with the family and friends they are visiting. Thirty-six percent of travelers intend to stay at a hotel, 20 percent will visit a resort, and 17 percent will stay at at a bed and breakfast or in a short-term rental.

Beyond visits to friends and family, many Americans plan to take vacations. Twenty-three percent planned a couple’s vacation, 20 percent are planning to travel solo and 25 percent are taking a family trip with 15 percent planning a multigenerational getaway.

The overwhelming majority of holiday travelers said they are staying in the domestic United States (88 percent) while only 20 percent said they would be traveling abroad. A small majority are staying close to home with trips between 100 and 499 miles from home (52 percent). Twenty-seven percent will travel between 500 and 999 miles for their vacations.

Most people plan to travel in personal vehicles on a road trip (45 percent personal vehicle, 16 percent rental vehicle and 11 percent RV/camper).

For those who are staying home and sitting out the holiday travel season, most say it is to avoid getting sick.

Fifty percent of respondents who expect to stay put for the holidays cite concerns over their own health (38 percent), the health of family and friends with whom they would typically travel (33 percent), and the health of family and friends they expect to visit (28 percent) as their reasons for not traveling.

Socioeconomic concerns were less of a factor in not traveling for the holidays. Just 5 percent of travelers said they had concerns over job security, and 14 percent said they were concerned about personal finances.