Don’t forget about inflation this travel season
The stores have swapped ghosts and ghouls for all their holiday goods. Halloween is over, which means the holiday season has officially begun.
What does that mean for Americans wanting to travel this holiday season? As a whole, a quarter of Americans are making plans to travel 100 miles or more this holiday season. Early indications suggest travel will be returning to pre-pandemic normals. But that’s not the entire story.
Below are five charts on Americans’ plans for holiday travel and how, despite dropping off, inflation is still making an impact on Americans.
- Back to normal. Travel has roared back to pre-pandemic levels. After a summer travel surge, can we expect the same for the holiday season? We will see.
- Car travel is set to take off. Compared to this time last year, Americans have become more interested in traveling during the holidays by car, while interest in traveling by plane has slightly waned.
- Who’s traveling? Traveling, especially for leisure, is a privilege. That’s reflected in the numbers: Young and wealthy Americans are the ones most likely to be scheduling long travels this year.
- The less wealthy are spending less on travel. Over the past six months, less wealthy Americans say they are prioritizing spending money on food and spending less or postponing travel altogether. For wealthy Americans, inflation may no longer be much of a worry. For the less affluent, inflation is still affecting daily life.
- Inflation: gone, but not forgotten. Inflation may be cooling, but Americans are still feeling its impact. Prices are, on average, 20% higher than they were compared to five years ago, and wages have yet to catch up. This is affecting travel plans, especially for the less wealthy.
As COVID becomes more and more of a distant memory, travel seems poised to return back to pre-pandemic highs. But the story of travel is also a story about the pocketbook, and that story has been rocky over the past few years.
This is especially true for less wealthy Americans. Despite seeing inflation drop off over the past few months, it’s still affecting spending decisions.
