However to fulfill their trip plans, shoppers should proceed to grapple with inflation and excessive costs, and almost half of survey respondents stated they deliberate to spend extra on journey in 2024 than final yr. So to bankroll their restlessness, Individuals are placing different main life plans on maintain.
One in 5 millennials—and 17% of Gen Zers—plan to postpone vital life purchases, like shopping for a house, to pay for journey, based on the examine. Roughly a 3rd of all Individuals stated they received’t anticipate retirement to see the world and are prioritizing journey now.
It isn’t simply main monetary milestones like shopping for a house and retirement which can be being positioned on the backburner, based on Empower. Individuals are slicing again in little methods to pay for journey as nicely—and in some circumstances, going into debt.
Greater than two-thirds of Gen Xers and millennials stated they had been slicing again on eating out to pay for journey, and almost 10% of all respondents within the Empower examine stated they’ve taken on debt to finance their journeys, averaging $2,849. Of these folks, greater than 1 / 4 stated paying down their debt would take a yr or longer.
In 2023, the journey business boomed as shopper demand for experiences got here again with a vengeance within the wake of the pandemic. A yr later, that need doesn’t appear to have subsided. The Friday earlier than Memorial Day, greater than 2.9 million vacationers had been screened at U.S. airports, breaking a single-day file set round Thanksgiving final yr.
Over the course of the summer season, airways count on to hold 271 million folks, 6.3% greater than the record-breaking season that they had final yr.
A current report from Expedia confirmed that Individuals are extra determined than ever to get away: 65% of survey respondents advised the journey firm they felt disadvantaged of trip, much more than within the top of the pandemic.
Christie Hudson, head of public relations at Expedia, advised Fortune {that a} important share of survey respondents plan to journey “no matter what” in 2024.
“In terms of attitude and valuing experiences over things, that whole mentality, people seem very aligned coming out of the pandemic,” stated stated.
