The State of the American Traveler Study tracks a number of different behaviors for travelers, including how many Americans are taking their favorite four-legged companions with them on trips. We have been tracking American travelers who have taken a trip (50+ miles from home) with their pets in the past 12 months since January 2023. On average, we see that typically one in four American travelers are what we call “pet travelers”, though, over the late-autumn 2023 months, we saw an uptick to over 30 percent of American travelers falling into this category.
Pet Travelers are particularly more likely to have gone on to recreation areas (+18.0pp) or national parks (+16.8pp) on their most recent overnight leisure trip compared to overall American travelers. Generally, we’ve found that Pet Travelers are also more likely to be interested in outdoor activities and camping, with 22.0 percent reporting that they took their most recent overnight trip because they wanted to engage in outdoor activities (versus 17.2% of overall travelers), and 13.5 percent saying they have stayed in a campground or RV park in the past 12 months (compared to just 7.8 percent of overall travelers).
Nearly two-thirds of Pet Travelers say travel will be a high-budget priority for them in the next 12 months (62.2% versus 52.1% of overall travelers), and they are more likely to say they expect to travel more for leisure in the coming year. In conjunction with these positive travel expectations, Pet Travelers’ overall annual budget for leisure travel this year is 10 percent more than overall travelers ($4,954 vs. $4,506).
Looking at Pet Travelers’ top 10 preferred marketing channels to learn about new destinations to visit, while email tops the overall list, Pet Travelers are more likely than overall travelers to say they would be receptive to destination marketing on social media. In particular, Pet Travelers outperformed the total American traveler population for Facebook (+10.9pp compared to overall travelers), Instagram (+7.1pp), and TikTok (+6.8pp).
For further insights into the Pet Travelers segment, such as what kind of media they are consuming and destinations they are interested in visiting, email our research team at [email protected]. Don’t hesitate to ask about many of our other traveler segments!
Check out The State of the American Traveler to learn more!
