Household financial confidence has fallen for three consecutive months and recession expectations are climbing again, yet trip-taking remains well ahead of last year and holiday calendars are filling. For travel marketers, the most useful material this month is new: a look at the resources American travelers actually reached for on their most recent trip, and the order they used them in.
Just 31.7 percent of American travelers say their household is financially better off than a year ago, down from 32.8 percent last month and below the 34.8 percent recorded in September 2025 — a third straight monthly decline and the lowest reading since May 2026. The share who feel worse off rose to 27.1 percent from 25.3 percent. Gen Z (49.4%) and parents of school-aged children (47.8%) remain the most likely to feel improved, while Boomers (20.5%) and Gen X (25.8%) are the least.
The outlook ahead softened in a similar fashion, with 43.3 percent expecting to be better off a year from now, down from 45.0 percent last month and 45.7 percent a year ago. Recession expectations rose for a second straight month to 48.5 percent, the highest reading since May. Financial caution followed: just over half of travelers (53.5%) say they are being careful with their money because of recession concerns, up from 52.3 percent last month and a third consecutive increase, well above the 46.2 percent measured a year ago. That burden is uneven, with 62.3 percent of travelers earning under $49,000 watching their spending versus 34.2 percent of those earning $200,000 or more.
Younger travelers and families continue to travel the most: Gen Z (67.8%), Millennials (64.7%) and parents of school-aged children (70.1%) lead on overnight leisure trips, against 47.0 percent of Boomers. Income separates overnight travel more than day travel — travelers earning $200,000 or more (66.9%) are 18 points more likely than those earning under $49,000 (49.0%) to have taken an overnight leisure trip, but that gap nearly disappears for day trips (53.8% versus 51.9%), and lower-income travelers are actually more likely to have visited friends or relatives overnight (53.5% versus 45.3%). Shorter and closer-to-home trips are where budget-constrained travelers are staying active.
Age and family status matter, but largely because they track income. Gen Z ranks travel a high priority at 61.0 percent yet budgets just $3,613, the lowest of any generation, with a mean household income of $78,000 against $103,000 for American travelers overall. Parents of school-aged children, whose mean household income ($114,000) runs about $16,600 above that of non-parents, lead on every measure: 68.2 percent call travel a high priority versus 51.2 percent of non-parents, and they budget $6,386 against $5,364.
The same divide shapes what holds travelers back. At 32.7 percent, nearly one-third say high gas prices have kept them from traveling more over the past six months, up from 31.0 percent last month and more than double the 15.3 percent of a year ago — the fifth straight month above 30 percent. Travel being too expensive (36.8%) is at its highest level since May, and airfare has edged up to 27.8 percent. But those costs land unevenly: 46.0 percent of travelers earning under $49,000 and 46.4 percent of rural-based travelers cite gas prices, versus 11.3 percent of those earning $200,000 or more. Time, not money, is the working-age constraint — Gen Z (27.0%), Millennials (26.7%) and parents (26.8%) are far more likely than Boomers (9.8%) to say they are too busy at work. And while 20.3 percent of American travelers report no deterrent at all, that rises to 28.0 percent of Boomers and 29.6 percent of top earners, against 13.9 percent of those earning under $49,000.
Holiday travel is a meaningful part of what is filling those calendars. About half (48.4%) of American travelers surveyed this month have a trip of 50 miles or more planned to celebrate an upcoming holiday, led by Christmas (34.5%), Thanksgiving (26.0%) and New Year’s Day (12.3%). The skew is generational and familial rather than financial: 67.3 percent of Gen Z and 63.8 percent of parents of school-aged children have a holiday trip planned, versus 38.7 percent of Boomers and 40.9 percent of non-parents, and parents are far more likely to be traveling for Christmas (48.0% versus 28.0%). Income matters less here than it does for travel generally, with 44.5 percent of travelers earning under $49,000 planning a holiday trip versus 53.5 percent of those earning $100,000 to $199,999.
These are not all family visits. About half of travelers with a holiday trip planned have one that does not include visiting friends or relatives. Among that group, 68.4 percent have already chosen a destination and 31.6 percent are still deciding. Asked what kind of destination appeals for the holidays, travelers point to beaches (24.1%) and urban destinations (23.9%), followed by small towns and rural areas (19.3%) and road trips (16.1%), with younger generations far more drawn to theme parks and mountain or ski destinations.
Sequence matters as much as reach. Among travelers who used each resource, 94.5 percent turned to search engines within their first three steps, 93.9 percent did so with word of mouth and 91.5 percent with social media, making those three the clear openers. Online travel agencies (76.4%), AI chatbots (71.9%) and travel blogs (65.3%) appear later, once a traveler is narrowing rather than exploring. Who uses what varies sharply: social media reaches 56.8 percent of Gen Z and 44.4 percent of parents but just 12.0 percent of Boomers, while official destination websites run the other direction, peaking among Boomers at 27.4 percent. Word of mouth is the most democratic resource in the set, used at similar rates across income groups and highest among rural-based travelers (54.1%).
AI is the newest entrant and the clearest example of a late-funnel tool. Use of AI for trip planning reached 32.2 percent this month, up from 31.9 percent last month and 24.0 percent a year ago, matching its highest reading in this study, and adoption is concentrated among Millennials (44.8%), Gen Z (41.8%) and parents of school-aged children (49.6%), against 17.5 percent of Boomers. Yet only 15.4 percent used an AI chatbot on their most recent trip, roughly half the share who report using AI at some point over the past year, and those who did placed it within their first three steps less often than any other major resource. The tool is being used to narrow and verify rather than to inspire. For travel marketers, that means AI visibility matters most for the questions travelers ask after a destination is already on their list. Discovery still happens in search results, conversations and social feeds, which argues for owning those opening moments on the channels each audience actually starts in.
Interest is primed to continue. More than one in four travelers (27.7%) say they are likely to take such a trip in the next two years, and 35.4 percent are interested in traveling to a location because it was featured on screen. The appeal is strongly generational and family-driven — 46.2 percent of Gen Z and 45.5 percent of Millennials are likely to take a trip in the next two years versus 12.4 percent of Boomers, and 46.8 percent of parents versus 20.9 percent of non-parents — while income is a far weaker dividing line.
