The State of the American Traveler in June 2024 — Bustling Summer Travel Season, Fourth of July Trip Plans, Pet Travel

IMPORTANT: These findings are brought to you from our independent research, which is not sponsored, conducted, or influenced by any advertising or marketing agency. The key findings presented below represent data from over 4,000 American travelers collected in May 2024.

High trip expenses continue to irk American traveling consumers, but it's not getting in the way of a sizzling summer travel season. More than 73 percent of American travelers say they will take at least one leisure trip over the next three months, with nearly 30 percent reporting a trip planned for the Fourth of July holiday alone.  International travel appears it will hold strong, as well, with just over three in ten American travelers saying they are likely to travel outside of the U.S. for leisure in the next year.  And when it comes to non-human companions on their upcoming trips, Millennial, and GenZ-aged travelers are driving pet travel trends. 

American Travelers' Financial Outlook is Stable

The financial outlook for American travelers remains stable. There has been no significant change in the share of American travelers who feel their current household financial status has improved (+0.3-point increase) or those who expect their future finances will be better a year from now (+0.7-point increase). Similarly, there was no month-over-month change in the share of American travelers who expect a recession in the near term. Along those lines, "personal financial reasons" and "travel being too expensive right now" have seen little movement over the past few months in the share of American travelers who cite either of those as deterrents to traveling in the past six months. One exception is concern about the cost of gasoline, which has been trending upwards as a travel deterrent since February, though at 28.9 percent it is still well below the levels seen in 2022.

Likewise, travel sentiment among American travelers has not changed significantly. Perceptions of whether now is a good or very good time to spend on travel saw a marginal uptick compared to last month (34.3%, +2.0 points), while next 12-month expectations for travel volume have held steady (27.9%, -0.1 point compared to last month). However, as we approach the summer travel season, leisure travel as a near-term spending priority is on an upward trend. This month, over six in ten American travelers said that leisure travel will be a high priority for spending in the next three months (62.0%). This is a +3.4-percentage point increase compared to last month, and a +9.9-percentage point increase compared to January 2024, indicating that Americans are gearing up to spend on leisure travel in the summer months.

Get Ready for a Strong Summer of Travel

The summer travel outlook is in fine form this year. As noted previously, the majority (62.0%) of American travelers are prioritizing spend on leisure travel in the next three months. Similarly, most American travelers (73.5%) said they are likely to take at least one leisure trip during this period. A sizeable share of American travelers are also likely to travel to visit friends or relatives for the summer, with 61.7 percent saying they will take at least one such trip in the next three months.

And nearly two-thirds (65.2%) said they have a leisure trip currently planned for June, July, and/or August. Of these travelers whose summer travel plans are firming up, these are more likely to be higher income travelers, with 77.8 percent of those who have an income of over $200k saying they have a leisure trip planned in the next three months, compared to 56.4 percent of travelers with an income below $50k. Interestingly, there is minimal difference between parents of school-aged children (69.8%) and other travelers (63.6%), suggesting that it is not just parents looking to take their kids on a summer trip who are planning to hit the road for leisure travel in the coming months.

Looking at the upcoming holiday weekends for the summer season, Americans are currently most likely to have a trip planned for the Fourth of July, with 29.1 percent reporting they are currently looking to celebrate Independence Day away from home. This most recent wave of The State of the American Traveler collected data between May 16-25, leading right up to the Memorial Day weekend, but only 16.7 percent of American travelers had a trip planned for the unofficial first weekend of summer. In comparison, even fewer (14.6%) said they have a trip planned for Labor Day weekend. Future Partners will continue to track travel intent for the Fourth of July and Labor Day this summer.

Three in Ten American Travelers are Likely to Venture Abroad

As we enter summer travel season, what is the outlook for international travel among American travelers? Historically, summer is a peak travel season for Americans to venture overseas, though last year's record heatwaves in popular destinations such as Italy may have a lasting impact on when Americans choose to travel to Europe in particular. But for now, just over three in ten American travelers (31.8%) say they are likely to travel outside of the U.S. for leisure in the next year, with Gen Z (40.2%) and Millennial (36.0%) travelers posting the highest shares. Travelers who live in the Northeast (36.6%) or the West (36.4%) regions of the U.S. are also more likely to say they will travel overseas in the coming year compared to those in the South (29.2%) or the Midwest (27.2%). Notably, those with school-aged children are significantly more likely to say they will travel abroad in the next year (40.1%), +11.4 percentage points ahead of travelers who are not parents of school-aged children. Unsurprisingly, higher-income travelers (i.e., household income of $200k or more) are significantly more likely to say they will travel abroad for leisure (62.4%), exponentially higher than those with an income below $50k (16.5%) or even medium income travelers (47.4% of those with an income between $100k and $200k).

When asked to write which foreign destinations they most want to visit in the next year, American travelers this month were most inclined to mention Italy (14.5%), followed by the closer-to-home Canada (12.2%) and Mexico (12.1%). The United Kingdom (11.6%) and Japan (9.5%) rounded out the top five destinations most mentioned by American travelers as desired overseas destinations in the coming 12 months. To learn more about American travelers interested in traveling abroad, check out the Future Partners blog post "Why should you care about American International Travelers".

Travel Trends: Air Travel for Dogs and Travel Agent Usage

There is a new pet travel player in town: BARK Air. Earlier in May, this innovative airline company took its inaugural flight from New York to Los Angeles with six dogs on board. Considering that one in five American travelers has taken a trip with a pet in the past twelve months (21.4%), it will be interesting to see if or how this impacts Americans’ travel with their beloved animals, in particular among younger travelers. A higher share of Gen Z (25.4%) and Millennial (25.4%) American travelers have taken a trip with their pets in the last year. Nearly half of pet travelers say they always or usually take their pets with them on trips (44.7%). Learn more about Americans who travel with their pets at this Future Partners blog post, "Get the leash! Let's adventure with pet travel".

In another trend in our The State of the American Traveler data, usage of travel agents/advisors has been tracking down since the end of 2023. Last November, nearly one in four American travelers said they used a travel agent or advisor to help plan their travel in the past year (24.3%), but there has been a steady decline in the share of American travelers who report using this resource. In May of this year, just 15.6 percent of American travelers said they turned to a travel agent or advisor for trip planning assistance in the past year, the lowest reported share since May 2023, and down -8.7 percentage points compared to the November 2023 peak. Among those who have used this resource, they are more likely to be  Millennials (21.3%) or Gen Z (19.9%) travelers, as well as higher income, with one in four travelers who make $200k or more (25.9%) or between $100k-$200k (23.8%). Interestingly, parents of school-aged children (26.2%) are significantly more likely to have used a travel agent or advisor in the past year (11.8% of those who are not parents to school-aged children).

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