Travel trends: Are you a “Four-Percenter” when it comes to travel?

by Gadling Staff on

If you spend enough time traveling, you’ll start seeing people that qualify as “Four-Percenters” — individuals who took 3+ foreign trips in the past 3 years AND 3+ domestic trips in the past 12 months; they represent only about four percent of the US population. We call them “Four-Percenters,” because they take to the air or the highways more often than the other 96% of their fellow Americans. They aren’t just travelers. Rather, they are People Who Travel.

How does a Four-Percenter travel differently than the other 96% of Americans?

In general, Four-Percenters are the kind of people who —

  • tend to travel independently instead of in an organized group;
  • swap lost luggage stories in airline lounges or brag about frequent flier statuses;
  • know every trick in the book to score an upgrade;
  • offer travel tips freely (maybe too freely?);
  • are likely to mistake Up in the Air for an autobiographical film;
  • choose a different destination for every new trip they take;
  • spend an average of $3,100 on foreign travel each year (nearly $700 more than average) and take 60% more domestic trips than other Americans.

Maybe you’re a homebody at heart — not likely if you’re reading Gadling — who’s forced to travel for work, or you might be an aspiring globetrotter that just hasn’t racked up enough miles. Whatever your situation, do you agree or disagree with how the Four-Percenters think about travel?

Are YOU a Four-Percenter?

Data source: 2009 Survey of the American Consumer

‘Tis the season for 2010 travel predictions

by Katie Hammel on

As the year comes to a close, it seems everyone is offering up their predictions for 2010 travel trends. Which destinations will be the new hot spots? Will the cost of airfare rise or fall? Will people travel or won’t they? As with every year, some predictions will be spot on. Others will just seem like the same ideas from last year dressed up with new names.

Rick Seany, CEO of FareCompare, centered his predictions around air travel. He says we can expect more a la carte pricing, fuel surcharges, and in-flight advertising. He also says deals will be much harder to find…but we’ve already seen some low fares for the first quarter of 2010, so let’s hope he’s wrong there.

TripAdvisor made predictions all across the board. The listed the destinations they think will grow in 2010, which included spots in Turkey, Mexico, Germany and Scotland, and made predictions about fees and traveler behavior patterns. For example, 22% of travelers expect to be more environmentally conscious about their travels next year.

Nile Guide’s 2010 predictions ranged from where we will go to how we’ll get the information to plan our trips. Having access to information on the go (via travel apps) will play a huge part in how we plan our travels. They also predict the availability of in flight wi-fi will continue to increase.

The Independent got in on the act too, with a travel forecast from Editor-in-Chief of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Julie Kinsman. Kinsman predicts more travelers will mix business with pleasure. That may be true, but do we really have to call it “bleisure?” She says “granny chic” (which may just be “shabby chic” recycled from the late 90’s) will be a popular decor style and that we’ll see more boutique B&Bs, luxury all-inclusives and eco-lux resorts in the coming year.

What are your travel predictions for 2010? Tell us in the comments.

Record influx of visitors to U.S. in 2008

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Last year, 58 million international visitors came to the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. That’s an increase of nearly 4 percent from 2007. To sweeten it up a bit, 13 of the top 25 arrivals markets saw new records set. In the last month of the year, nearly 4 million people came here from abroad – down 7 percent. The fourth quarter was down 6 percent year-over-year.

So, we saw most of the action in the first nine months of 2008.

The first three quarters were grand, last year. Seventeen of the top 20 arrivals markets were up from 2007, with one flat and two down. Visitors from Canada were growing at a double-digit rate, though trips from Mexico were down. The rest of the world was up 9 percent for the first nine months of 2008, relative to the same period in 2007.

It all changed at the beginning of October, though. Only 12 of the top 20 countries sent more visitors than in the first quarter of 2007. Canada and Mexico were down, and visits from the rest of the world dropped by 3 percent. You can check the arrival stats monthly by clicking here.
Canada sent 18.9 million people to the United States last year, most of them by land. But, air arrivals grew at a faster rate – 8 percent compared to 6 percent. Another 13.8 million people visited the United States from Mexico. The total is down 4 percent from 2007, with air arrivals down 9 percent.

A total of 25.3 million people visited from the rest of the world – i.e., countries other than Canada and Mexico. While this is up 6 percent from 2007, it’s still 2 percent below the record set in 2000. Since 2003, the number of guests arriving from overseas is up 33 percent.

Western Europe shows no signs of slowing down. Last year, that part of the world brought 12.2 million tourists to the United States, a 12 percent gain year-over-year. This group comprised 48 percent of all overseas arrivals. But, they slowed down in December (by 3 percent). France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Sweden, Belgium, Denmark and Norway set arrival records.

  • Germany: 17 percent
  • France: 25 percent
  • Italy: 23 percent
  • Netherlands: 20 percent
  • Spain: 27 percent
  • Ireland: 8 percent
  • Sweden: 18 percent
  • Switzerland: 15 percent

No records were set in the United Kingdom. Visitors from the country to which we once belonged were up 1 percent for the year but down 14 percent in December. Thirty-seven percent of Western European arrivals come here from the United Kingdom.

And, there’s a hell of a lot more of this available, thanks to the U.S. Department of Commerce Office of Travel & Tourism Industries.

Check out some of these wacky laws, place names and signs from around the world!

Cruise line trends to look out for

by Jamie Rhein on

There are some trends in the cruise industry that might make you pleased or disgruntled, depending on if the trends tip in your favor.

Non-smokers may feel more pleased to find out that one growing trend is to restrict smoking to fewer and fewer places on a ship. Smokers, of course, may not be thrilled.

Another trend is for bigger ships. Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas is the biggest of them all. It can carry 3,634 passengers. Both Celebrity and Carnival Cruises have gone for larger ship sizes as well.

While on-board, you might be paying more fees than in the past. Even the snacks might cost you. Other fees are for on-board tours and eating at an alternative restaurant. Before you book a cruise, find out what your money will pay for and what it doesn’t so you don’t end up feeling mad, cheated or disappointed.

Because more and more people are looking to find R&R while on board, more ships are offering spa classes and areas for retreats where passengers can meditate or just hang out in peace and quiet.

Along with these cruise line trends, Jay Clarke also mentioned in his article in the Columbus Dispatch that there are half-dozen new ships in southern Florida. I imagine this means that if you’re looking for a travel bargain, consider a cruise.

Debauchery tourism: travel for partying, sex and drugs

by Abha Malpani on

“There is no future! Why save money? Why worry about traditional morality!?”, the anything goes attitude when on vacation seems to be the latest travel-trend amongst western 25-34 year-olds, according to the 2007 World Travel Market’s annual Global Trends report.

A wild spin off the nudist, lifestyle and hedonist resorts concept, the travel industry has tagged this as “debaucherism”, and as long as it’s legal, the hotels will take care of all your demands. Well, almost all: a complimentary copy of Playboy and a box of cigars in your room, and room-service for sex toys, erotic DVDs, and velvet restraints (!). Some of these hotel rooms that encourage debauchery to attract clients even have in-room stripper poles (hmmm.) Gambling and strip-club tours that include chauffeur driven limousine transport and entry to the clubs and all-day US$5000 in hotel pool-parties are among the popular requests.

The crowd hungry for these types of self-indulgent escapes are mainly recent out of university workaholics who just want to liberate themselves and experiment, or those who get a rise by imitating binge-drinking-and-partying celebrities.

Hot debauchery spots include Las Vegas, Buenos Aires, Cape Town, Dubai (!!!!), Hanoi and Macau.

Photo gallery: Sex and tourism — how do they mix?

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