American Express researched the upcoming Holiday travel plans of 2,005 adults, and found some positive trends – 39% of Americans will be traveling this upcoming season – and 30% of them plan to spend more than they did last year.
Each traveler will spend between $460 (average) and $560 (affluents) on their trip. 19% of travelers will be away from home for Thanksgiving, 19% for Christmas and 6% for New Years eve.
Surprisingly, only 12% of Holiday travel takes people outside the U.S. and most trips are relatively short – which means 74% of travelers will be on the road. To boost the economy, 23% of travelers plan to go further than they did in recent years, 19% will spend more on their hotel and 8% will treat themselves to business or first class tickets.
Those that are not traveling have good reasons too – 30% can’t afford it, 11% has family visiting them and just 9% think the Holiday season is too stressful and hectic.
Top destinations for Holiday travel include Orlando, New York City, Miami and various cities in Hawaii. Of course, American Express reminds its cardholders that they can take a vacation using their Membership Rewards Points, and 11% of consumers in the research did just that – making their trip a very nice end of year bonus. When booked through American Express Travel, customers can earn double Membership Rewards points, room upgrades and more.
[Photo credit: cursedthing]