YPBR’s just released 2007 National Leisure Travel Monitor reveals that Americans continue to view vacations as an essential part of contemporary life. Leisure travel fills more hotel rooms and airline seats than business travel. The report revealed that the incidence of leisure travel continues to be dominated by adults traveling as couples (61%), followed by adults traveling with children (31%) and adults traveling alone (28%). And “visiting friends and relatives” remains the most popular type of vacation (by 56% of leisure travelers), followed by beach/lake vacations (27%), general sightseeing vacations (21%), urban/city vacations (15%), cruise vacations (12%), camping/hiking vacations (12%) and theme park vacations (11%).
Nevertheless, only one out of ten (9%) American leisure travelers took a gambling vacation, and only 2% took a golf vacation.
YPBR says that consistent with the prediction the company made several years ago, the frenetic pace of contemporary life continues to erode the limited vacation time Americans have each year (only 13 days on average, versus 26 days in Canada and 42 in Italy). It is also the primary reason why the most popular form of vacationing is a weekend trip of four nights or less that includes a Saturday night stay. This type of vacation represents the majority (52%) of all vacations taken by Americans last year!
Interestingly, the report confirmed that American leisure travelers’ lodging preferences mirror those of business travelers, with one primary exception: leisure travelers are significantly less likely to prefer “luxury” accommodations. See http://pr.ypbr.com/agency/pcy/2007/05_07/web/