U.S. travelers’ vacation budgets are down this year, although the percentage that intend to take a summer vacation is holding steady, according to a new study from Generali Global Assistance (GGA). The company’s 19th annual Holiday Barometer, conducted on behalf of its parent company Europ Assistance by consumer research firm Ipsos, surveyed 1,000 consumers over the age of 18 in each of 12 countries.
According to the report, U.S. travelers are intending to reduce their travel budget this year by 10 percent to $2,373. The number of Americans who indicated that they would be taking a summer vacation this year, however, held steady at 68 percent.
Americans were the last of the countries surveyed in the report in terms of how much vacation time they will take this year, with respondents indicating 1.4 weeks on average. Part of the 10 percent reduction in travel budget could have to do with where Americans are intending to take their vacation this year, GGA said: while 35 percent of Americans in the report had not decided on their destination yet, 50 percent of Americans indicated they would be traveling domestically this summer. In terms of destination type, American travelers were closely split between beach (45%) and city (42%) destinations.
Budget was the most important factor when making vacation plans for all of the countries surveyed in the report, with Americans ranking taking part in leisure and cultural activities and the climate as their second and third biggest considerations, respectively. Risk of a personal attack and a terrorist attack rounded out Americans’ fourth and fifth concerns. At the same time, the number of travelers who indicated that they were concerned about terrorism was down across the board, with Europeans, Americans and Brazilians all showing a 6 to 7 percent decline from previous years.
In terms of activities on vacation, 46 percent of Americans said that they would like to spend their summer vacation camping in the wilderness, making them among the most outdoorsy of the countries surveyed, beat out only by Poland (52%). Americans were also the most likely to work on their vacation, with 54 percent indicating that they would be disconnecting completely. Fifty percent of U.S. travelers said that they would spend 30 minutes to two hours on work during their vacation.
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