Thanksgiving travelers go `cold turkey' on hotel stays and air travel
Bellevue, WA - In a snapshot poll taken in the three days leading up to the American Thanksgiving break, Ipsos Marketing's travel and tourism division found that Thanksgiving travelers have not deviated much from their usual travel plans, except that some traveled smarter.
Nearly 1-in-5 Americans planned to travel out of town this Thanksgiving (19%) which was down slightly from the number who traveled for Thanksgiving in 2008 (22%). Even though Thanksgiving is one of the most important travel periods of the year, a large majority of Americans are not Thanksgiving travelers as 78% didn't travel last Thanksgiving and 79% had no plans to travel this Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving seems sacred for those Americans who go out-of-town at this time of year. Despite the economic downturn, over one-in-three travelers planned to spend more money this year as compared to 2008 on their Thanksgiving travel (35%). Those who planned to spend less in 2009 than they did in 2008 accounted for 13% of all travelers while the remaining 41% planned to spend as much in 2009 as they did in 2008.
Dave Pierzchala, Vice President of Ipsos' travel team explains, "Thanksgiving travel is as much of a tradition as turkey with all the trimmings and these results show that the need to be with friends and family does not disappear even in strained financial times."
While spending for Thanksgiving travel appears to be on the rise, certain travelers were still looking for ways to save money this year. Thrifty Thanksgiving travelers say that this year they planned to stay with friends and family instead of a hotel (22%), they planned to drive instead of fly (17%), and some simply planned to take shorter trips (14%). The largest group of travelers (41%) was either set in their ways or not impacted as greatly by the current financial situation as they said that nothing changed for their Thanksgiving travel plans this year.
Dave Pierzchala, Vice President of Ipsos' travel team explains, "In the current economic times Americans are finding ways to continue to connect with loved ones and in some cases the pull-out couch or long car ride is the necessary sacrifice."
Among the vast majority of Americans who had no travel plans this Thanksgiving, a primary reason is that they had the pleasure of hosting their friends and family (25%).
Similar to travel during other holiday seasons, non-travelers planned to avoid travel this Thanksgiving because it was too expensive (13%) and too crowded (5%). The present economy is also preventing Thanksgiving travel for Americans who say they are watching their travel budget (5%) and have suffered a loss of employment (3%). There are about 1-in-5 Americans who said they simply didn't want to travel this Thanksgiving (21%).
These are the findings of an Ipsos online study conducted from November 23, 2009 to November 26, 2009 with 1,114 U.S. adults (18+). With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate within 2.94 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult population in the United States been polled. The margin of error for sub-samples may be higher. Note: Thanksgiving travel is defined as traveling at least 50 miles from home for Thanksgiving and involves an overnight stay.
For more information on this news release, please contact:
Dave Pierzchala Vice President Ipsos Marketing Travel Sector (778) 373-5006 [email protected]About Ipsos Marketing
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