About this report

The travel industry has been challenged by a variety of negative drivers in the new millennium, including slowed economic growth and dramatically heightened concerns about security, war, terrorism, and disease. Between 2000 and 2003, domestic business travel fell by 15%, airline travel by 14%, and international travel to the U.S. was down by 21%. Since 2003, however, virtually all sectors of the travel industry have experienced growth.

In order to explore the issues faced by travel suppliers, this report focuses almost entirely on the consumer, addressing the attitudes of different consumer demographics on topics such as travel preferences and planning; foreign and domestic travel; rental cars; lodging; and air travel. Because this time is a precarious one for the travel industry, it is especially important for supplies to understand the changing behavior of leisure travelers. With the information and analysis in this report, suppliers will be prepared to make sound business judgements in a rapidly evolving market.

This report covers personal travel and vacations, including visits to friends and relatives, tourism, entertainment, and outdoor-oriented trips. For the most part, business travel is excluded from this report (covered separately in Mintels U.S. Business Travel report, November 2005). However, some indicators of travel trends include both business and leisure travel.

• Introduction and Abbreviations
• Introduction
• Other relevant reports
• Data sources
• Definition
• Abbreviations and terms
• Abbreviations
• Terms
• Executive Summary
• Age
• 15-24-year-olds--lower spenders, VFR, activity and exploratorytravelers
• 25-44-year-olds--less frequent, domestic, short family and couplevacations
• 45-64-year-olds--big earners & spenders, looking for pamperingand new locations, concerned about security
• Over-65s--looking for experience, activity and culture; location,comfort, and amenities regardless of price
• Income
• Households above $75K--vacationers to previously unvisitedlocations, big spenders
• Under $25K--VFR, visit same location at low cost, local trips
• Race/ethnicity--Asians, blacks, Hispanics, whites
• Whites and Asians--high median incomes, domestic &international travelers
• Blacks and Hispanics--commonalities
• Blacks and Hispanics--differences
• Gender--presence of children, attitudes toward national security,income
• Household composition--married couples vs singles
• Market Factors
  • Figure 1: Travel expenditures in the U.S.,at current and constant prices, 1999-2005
• Demographics of travel expenditureContinuing concerns over security
  • Figure 2: Level of concern about safetywhile traveling, by gender, September 2005
  • Figure 3: How concerns about safety impacttravel behavior, by gender and age, September 2005
• Securing hospitality from terrorismPerson trips
  • Figure 4: Number of domestic, inbound andoutbound travel person trips, 1999-2006
• Nature of person trips: Short breaks, by car, close to home, remainpopular
• Impact of the Internet--more choice, price competition
  • Figure 5: U.S. broadband householdprojections, 2000-10
  • Figure 6: Amount of time on Internet andnumber of unique websites visited, January-September 2004
• Use of the Internet by travelers
• Demographic Impact on Travel Trends
• Introduction
• Age
  • Figure 7: U.S. population, by age, 2000-10
• Income by age
  • Figure 8: Median household income perhousehold member, by age of householder, 2003
• Distribution of income in the U.S.
  • Figure 10: Graph: Households per incomegroup in 2003 and change from 2000
• Race and Hispanic origin
  • Figure 11: U.S. population, by race andHispanic origin, 2000-10
• College graduates
  • Figure 14: Graph: Educational attainment,by generation, 2003
• Marital status and presence of children
  • Figure 16: Graph: Percentage of the U.Spopulation that are married, by age, 2003
• Presence of children
  • Figure 18: Graph: Shares of householdswith and without children, by age of householder, 2003
• Travel Preferences
• Introduction
• Foreign vs. domestic travel
  • Figure 19: Attitudes toward domestictravel and travel abroad, by age, race/ethnicity, marital status, incomeand presence of children, January-September 2004
• Preferred types of vacations
  • Figure 20: General attitudes towardvacation & travel, by age, January-September 2004
  • Figure 21: General attitudes towardvacation & travel, by household income, January-September 2004
  • Figure 22: General attitudes towardvacation & travel, by race/ethnicity, January-September 2004
  • Figure 23: General attitudes towardvacation & travel, by presence of children, January-September 2004
  • Figure 24: General attitudes towardvacation & travel, by key cohorts, January-September 2004
• Visiting family and friends
  • Figure 25: Prefer visiting friends andfamily, by gender, age, race/ethnicity, presence of children and income,September 2005
• Travel Planning
• Introduction
• Method of booking travel
  • Figure 26: Method of booking hotel,airfare, and car rentals, October 2004
  • Figure 27: Use of a travel agent, by age,race/ethnicity, marital status and income, January-September 2004
• Willingness to use an unfamiliar company for travel arrangements
  • Figure 28: Attitudes toward travelarrangements made through an unfamiliar company, by age, race/ethnicity,marital status, income and presence of children, January-September 2004
• Booking last-minute deals
  • Figure 29: Booking last-minute deals tosave money, by age, race/ethnicity, presence of children and income,September 2005
• Plane Travel and Car Rentals
• Introduction to plane travel
• Enplanements
  • Figure 30: Number and projection ofdomestic and international enplanements, 1999-2005
  • Figure 31: Reasons why travelers avoidplane travel, by gender and household income, September 2005
• Foreign flights and travel
  • Figure 32: Vacation/personal foreigntravel by plane in the last three years, by household income,January-September 2004
• Domestic travel by plane
  • Figure 33: Domestic travel by plane in thelast 12 months, by household income, January-September 2004
• Car rentals
• Renting a vehicle for business or personal use
  • Figure 34: Vehicle rental, by age,race/ethnicity, marital status and household income, January-September2004
• Foreign Travel Activity
• Introduction
• Foreign travel, last three years
  • Figure 35: Foreign travel in the lastthree years, by age, race/ethnicity, marital status and householdincome, January-September 2004
• Purpose of recent foreign travel
  • Figure 36: Motivations for last trip to aforeign country, by household income, January-September 2004
• Where its at: popular foreign travel destinations
  • Figure 37: Foreign countries visited onlast trip, by household income, January-September 2004
• Transportation to foreign destinations
  • Figure 38: Method of transportation usedfor last trip taken to a foreign country, by household income,January-September 2004
• Domestic Travel Activity
• Introduction--who travels domestically
  • Figure 39: Domestic travel in the last 12months, by age, race/ethnicity, marital status and household income,January-September 2004
• Motivations for recent domestic travel
  • Figure 40: Motivations for most recentdomestic travel in the last 12 months, by household income,January-September 2004
• Nights spent away, domestic
  • Figure 41: Nights spent away from home onlast domestic trip, by household income, January-September 2004
• Amount spent on recent domestic travel
  • Figure 42: Expenditures for last domestictrip, by household income, January-September 2004
• Domestic trip--choice of transportation
  • Figure 43: Method of transportation usedfor last domestic trip, by household income, January-September 2004
• Lodging--Attitudes and Usage
• Introduction
• Size and growth in the hotel market
• Sales revenue
  • Figure 44: Total U.S. retail sales ofhotel accommodations, at current and constant prices, 1999-2004
• Occupancy and RevPAR
  • Figure 45: Hotel occupancy and revenue,2000-04
• Economy, Mid-priced and Luxury Accommodations
• Price and other factors are important to consumers
• Amenities and luxuries used to differentiate hotels
• Selecting and booking hotels
• Choice of lodging, most recent domestic trip
  • Figure 46: Accommodations for lastdomestic trip taken, by household income, January-September 2004
• Choice of lodging, most recent foreign trip
  • Figure 47: Accommodations in a foreigncountry, by household income, January-September 2004
• Extent of domestic hotel/motel usage
  • Figure 48: Domestic travel in the last 12months and extent of hotel/motel usage, by age, January-September 2004
  • Figure 49: Domestic travel in the last 12months and extent of hotel/motel usage, by race/ethnicity,January-September 2004
  • Figure 50: Domestic travel in the last 12months and extent of hotel/motel usage, by marital status,January-September 2004
  • Figure 51: Domestic travel in the last 12months and extent of hotel/motel usage, by household income,January-September 2004
  • Figure 52: Domestic travel in the last 12months and extent of hotel/motel usage, by presence of children,January-September 2004
  • Figure 53: Domestic travel in the last 12months and extent of hotel/motel usage, by key cohort, January-September2004
• Choice of lodging by price
  • Figure 54: Prioritizing price when seekinglodging, by gender, age, race/ethnicity, presence of children, andhousehold income, September 2005
• Choice of lodging by character
  • Figure 55: Prioritizing character inlodging, by gender, age, race/ethnicity, presence of children andincome, September 2005
• Appendix: Trade Associations
• Appendix: Cohort Definitions
  • Figure 23: Cohort descriptors, all groups
• Appendix: Research Methodology
• Consumer Research
• Greenfield Online
• Presentation & Definitions
• ICR Surveys EXCEL
• Simmons National Consumer Surveys
• Technometrica TechnoExpresssm
• Further Analysis
• Trade Research
• Informal trade research
• Formal trade research
• Desk & Internet Research
• Sources
• Definitions
• Forecasts
• Appendix: What is Mintel?
• Mintel Group
• Mintel Reports
• Mintel Premier
• Mintel GNPD
• Mintel Menu Insights
• Mintel Comperemedia
• Mintel Custom Solutions