National Travel Trends
All trends provided by Travel Industry Association of America

Biking vacations attracted more than 27 million travelers in the past five years and they rank as the third most popular outdoor vacation activity in America, (following camping and hiking). People who take biking trips tend to be young and affluent. About half are between the ages of 18 and 34 and one-fourth are from households with an annual income of $75,000 or more. More than 80% of biking travelers took a camping trip in the past five years and 72% took hiking trips in the past five years. (Source: TIA's Adventure Travel Report.)

Camping is the number one outdoor vacation activity in America. One third of U.S. adults say they have gone on a camping vacation in the past five years and only 6% of people who have gone camping said it was not for them. Camping vacationers tend to be married with children at home. (Source: TIA 's Adventure Travel Report.)

Cultural events/festivals are very popular among travelers. In fact, most (75%) U.S. adult travelers attended a cultural activity or event while on a trip in the past year. This translates to an estimated 109.8 million U.S. adults. Their households generated 97.7 million person-trips including a cultural event or festival in 2002. Travelers most often attend performing arts events (48%) and/or visit art museums or antique establishments (47%). (Source: TIA's The Historic/Cultural Traveler, 2003 Edition.)

Educational Travel: The learning aspect of travel is important to U.S. travelers, with about one-fifth--30.2 million adults--having taken an educational trip to learn or improve a skill, sport or hobby in the past three years. Eighteen percent of travelers in the past year said that taking such a trip was the main purpose of their travel. Overall, educational travelers are more likely than total U.S. travelers to be male (56%), younger (39 years, average age), a college graduate (49%), have a professional or managerial occupation (38%), have children in the household (51%), and have a higher annual household income ($75,000 average (mean) annual household income). They are less likely to be married.

Family reunions and travel seem to go hand-in-hand, judging by the fact that 34 percent of U.S. adults have traveled to one in the past three years. This translates into nearly 72 million U.S. adults. In fact, one in five (22%) U.S. adults say they took a trip to attend a family reunion in just the past year. Keeping with the family theme, more than half of reunions are held in someone's home (52%). City or town parks (12%) and national/state parks or forests (6%) are also popular. And family reunions occur with some frequency-at least once a year for half of family reunion travelers.

Festivals and fairs are popular ways for travelers to experience new and interesting cultures. Four in ten (41%) U.S. adult travelers attended a festival and/or fair during a trip in the past year. This translates to an estimated 59.5 million U.S. adults. Specifically, one in five (20%) past-year travelers (28.9 million adults) say they attended a heritage, ethnic, or folk festival or fair. About one third (31%) of past-year travelers (45.8 million adults) attended another type of festival or fair, such as a state or county fair or arts and crafts fair. (Source: TIA's The Historic/Cultural Traveler, 2003 Edition.)

Garden tours are popular with many travelers. Nearly 40 million Americans, or one-fifth of U.S. residents (20%) went on a garden tour, visited a botanical garden, attended a gardening show or festival, or participated in some other garden-related activity in the past five years. This translates to 39.3 million U.S. adults.

Historical places/museums are popular attractions for U.S. travelers taking trips within the U.S. A majority (58%) of U.S. adult travelers included an historic activity or event on a trip during the past year. This translates to an estimated 84.7 million U.S. adults. Their households generated 143.5 million person-trips including a visit to historical places or museums in 2002. In fact, 41 percent of past-year travelers say they visited a designated historic site, such as a building, landmark, home, or monument (41%) during their trip. Three in ten (28%) visited a designated historic community or town. (Source: TIA's The Historic/Cultural Traveler, 2003 Edition.)

Hotel/motel/B&B's are used for over half (55%) of overnight household trips in the U.S. This translates to 268.9 million overnight household trips including a hotel/motel or B&B stay. Hotel/motel/B&B trips are more likely than the average U.S. household trip to be taken for business reasons (40% vs. 18%). These household trips are also twice as likely as average household trips to be taken by air (32% vs. 20%). The average duration of a hotel/motel/B&B trip is 3.9 nights. One in five (21%) hotel/motel/B&B trips include children. (Source: TIA 's Domestic Travel Market Report, 2004 Edition.)

International travel to the United States is one of our leading exports. In 2001, 45.5 million international travelers visited the U.S., down 11 percent from 2000. The United Kingdom, Japan, and Brazil lead their respective regions in arrivals to the U.S. The UK was the top country for inbound travel to the U.S. in 2001, sending nearly 4.2 million visitors. Japan was in second place, with over 4 million arrivals. Brazil was the seventh ranked tourism generating country with 570,000 arrivals to the U.S. in 2001. Germany, France, South Korea, Venezuela, and Italy round out the top ten tourism-generating countries to the U.S. Although arrivals from all markets declined in 2001, arrivals from India, Venezuela and Ireland declined the least, only one percent each. (Source: TIA 's IVIS - located in the International Research sub-section)

The Internet and online services are very popular with travelers. Travelers tend to be quite computer savvy, with two thirds (65%) of the 98.3 million travelers who are online-63.8 million-using the Internet to make travel plans in 2004. Among online frequent travelers, 70 percent use the Internet for travel planning. Use of the Internet to actually book travel continues to increase, with 45 percent of all travelers now online having made travel reservations on the Internet during the past year. That translates to 44.6 million online travel bookers, up six percent over 2003. (Source: TIA 's Travelers Use of the Internet, 2004 Edition)

Life Stage: Unique travel characteristics of households by their life stage are examined. There are life 11 stage segments that not only include life stage, but also relates these stages roughly to the travelers' generation cohorts: Generation X/Generation Y (Young), Baby Boomers (Middle), Empty Nesters and Seniors (Older). Among the 11 stages, the largest share of trips (23%) are taken by Middle Parent households. (Source: Travel Through the Life Stages, 2002 Edition) bookers say they bought airline tickets for a trip taken in the past year, 67 percent booked overnight lodging accommodations, and 40 percent made rental car reservations. (Source: TIA 's Travelers Use of the Internet, 2004 Edition)

Mature household trips (taken by households headed by someone aged 55 or older) last the longest across the generation groups (an average of 4.8 nights, excluding day trips), with 16 percent lasting seven or more nights away. Conversely, this group also has a higher share of day trips (26%). Even when including day trips in the average, mature travelers continue to rank first over other age groups with 3.5 nights average trip duration. Over half (53%) of mature traveling households stay in a hotel/motel/B&B on their trip, and four in ten (41%) stay at the homes of friends or relatives. Their growing numbers coupled with their financial power and availability of time, make them a very attractive market for the U.S. travel industry. (Source: TIA 's Domestic Travel Market Report, 2004 Edition, The Mature Traveler, 2000 Edition.)

Minority Travel: While traveling, Hispanic, African-American, and Asian-American households mirror U.S. traveling households overall on many key trip and demographic characteristics, some characteristics do vary significantly by minority group. Nevertheless, like U.S. travel in general, majorities of person-trips taken by Hispanics, African-Americans, and Asian-Americans are for leisure purposes and by owned car or truck.

• African-American travel volume is up 4 percent from 2000 to 2002 (increasing from 72.2 million to 75.2 million person-trips), higher than the two percent increase for travelers overall during the same time period. A majority of African-American person-trips are for leisure (74%), most often to visit friends or relatives (44%). Group tours are popular among African-Americans. Compared to travelers overall, nearly three times as many African-American person-trips involve group tours (10% vs. 3%). African-American households spend $428 per trip, on average, excluding spending on transportation to their destination.
• Asian-American travel volume has grown 10 percent from 2000 to 2002, increasing from 30.0 million to 33.1 million person-trips. Leisure travel accounts for 77 percent of all travel taken by Asian-Americans, and like other U.S. travelers they visit friends and relatives most often (40%), followed by entertainment (18%) and outdoor recreation (8%). Asian-American households spend $515 per trip, on average, excluding spending on transportation to their destination, more than the average household trip spending in the U.S. ($457). This group has a much higher tendency to include shopping as trip activity compared to total U.S. travelers (39% of person-trips vs. 34%).
• Hispanic travel volume is up 20 percent from 2000 to 2002 (increasing from 64.1 million to 77.1 million person-trips), much higher than the two percent growth of travelers overall. A majority of Hispanic person-trips are for leisure (77%), of which visiting friends or relatives are the ultimate goal for many (43%). Entertainment trips (16%) and outdoor recreation (8%) make up smaller shares of Hispanic person-trips. Hispanic households spend an average of $480 on a trip, excluding spending on transportation to their destination. One third (33%) of trips by Hispanic households include children under 18 years old, significantly higher than for overall traveling households in the U.S. (24%).
• (Source: TIA' s The Minority Traveler, 2003 Edition)

Online leisure travel planners, or E-travel consumers, tend to be heavy travelers who use the Internet about 16 hours per week. A majority (66%) do more than half of all trip planning online. What types of leisure trips are planned online? These trips are often for entertainment/vacation purposes (37%) or to visit friends and relatives (34%). Many trips planned online are taken by car (46%) or by air (41%). Over half (59%) of these trips include a hotel/motel/B&B stay. (Source: TIA 's E-Travel Consumers: How They Plan and Book Leisure Travel Online)

Pet Travel: Fluffy and Fido are popular travel companions, with 14 percent of all U.S. adults (29.1 million) saying they have traveled with a pet on a trip of 50 miles or more, one-way, away from home in the past three years. Dogs are the most common type of pet to take along (78%). Cats came in a distant second with 15 percent of travelers taking their feline friend along.

Package Travel: One quarter (23%) of past-year travelers (33.3 million adults) say they bought a travel package within the past three years-that is, a trip including at least transportation and a place to stay all in one price. The average age of a package traveler is 43 years and the gender breakout is almost even (47% men, 53% women).

Parents and grandparents are popular travel companions for adult travelers who take outdoor vacations such as camping, hiking, biking. Twenty two percent travelers between 18 and 34 took their parents and/or grandparents on their most recent soft adventure vacation. (Source: TIA 's Adventure Travel Report.)

Romantic Travel: More than 42 million Americans say they have taken at least one trip in the past year to attend a wedding, go on a honeymoon, or celebrate an anniversary. This equates to 20 percent of all U.S. adults traveling for romance-related purposes in the past year. Romance-related travel is most popular among Baby Boomers, as four in ten (41%) romance travelers are age 35-54. One-third (33%) of these travelers are Generation X and Y travelers between the ages of 18 and 34.

Shopping continues to be the most popular trip activity for U.S. adult travelers. About 91 million people, or 63 percent of adult travelers in 2000, included shopping as an activity on a trip. Because people can go shopping on more than one trip away from home, TIA estimates that 34 percent of all person-trips or over 345 million U.S. person-trips include shopping. Shoppers are almost as likely to stay at a hotel, motel, or bed and breakfast establishment (49% of person-trips) as they are with friends or relatives (48%). Overnight shopping trips average 4.8 nights and they spend, on average, $563, excluding the cost of transportation to their destination. (Source: TIA 's Domestic Travel Market Report, 2003 Edition and The Shopping Traveler)

Theme/Amusement Park Travel: One in ten (9%) person-trips includes a visit to a theme or amusement park, equating to over 92 million person-trips taken in the U.S. in 2002. Households visiting a "theme park" spend an average of $845 per trip, excluding transportation to their destination. On average, overnight theme park trips last 5.3 nights. Two-thirds (67%) of theme park traveling households stay in a hotel, motel, or bed and breakfast establishment on overnight trips. Theme park trips are most likely to include shopping as a complementary activity (40% of person-trips). As expected, a large share (55%) of household trips involving a visit to a theme park includes children under age 18. (Source: TIA 's Domestic Travel Market Report, 2003 Edition.)

Weekend travel is more popular than ever, with half of all U.S. adults--nearly 103 million--taking at least one weekend trip per year. Almost 30 percent of Americans have taken five or more weekend trips in the past year and 35 percent of all weekend travelers say they've taken their children with them on at least one weekend trip. Compared to five years ago, day trips and weekend trips appear to be more popular today than trips lasting about one week or longer. Most weekend travelers (42%) make last-minute plans and select their destination within two weeks of their trip. Thirty percent of weekend travelers say they took advantage of discounts, coupons, or special offers while planning or while on their most recent weekend trip. Visiting cities (33%) and small towns (26%) are favored destinations for weekend travelers, followed by beaches (16%), mountain areas (10%), lake areas (4%), state or national parks (3%) and theme or amusement parks (3%).