Americans Less Likely to Have a Summer Vacation in 2008

New York, NY - A new telephone survey of 1,000 Americans, conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs on behalf of Access America Travel Insurance and Assistance, has found that fewer people are planning to have a summer vacation in 2008 than in 2007. One-third (33%) of those polled say they're planning a summer vacation, a drop of 7 percentage points from the 40% who reported that they had a summer vacation in 2007.

Among those who took a vacation last year, only 57% say they plan to travel again this summer. Most of those who took a vacation last year, but do not plan to do so this year, cite economic reasons: High gas prices (20%), the fact that they just can't afford it (20%), the uncertain economy (13%) and a weak dollar (2%).

Among those planning to take a vacation, the primary destinations are the Southern US (21%) and the Western US (19%). At the same time, 19% are planning to travel outside of the country with the top destinations being warm weather locations such as Mexico (5%) and the Caribbean (5%).

Although one-third (33%) of Americans are planning on taking a summer vacation in 2008, almost one-half of these people (48%) say their plans will be scaled-back due to the uncertain economy. The two most likely ways in which their plans will be scaled-back are eating out less (27%) and staying closer to home on their vacation (24%).

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted April 7-14, 2008. For the survey, a nationally representative sample of 1,000 randomly-selected adults aged 18 and over residing in the U.S. interviewed by telephone via Ipsos' U.S. Telephone Express omnibus. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate within 1773.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult population in the U.S. been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/gender composition reflects that of the actual U.S. population according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

For more information on this news release, please contact: Nicolas Boyon Senior Vice President Ipsos Public Affairs (646) 364-7583 [email protected]

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