TNS American Traveler's Americans' Top International Destinations
Canada and the Caribbean Top the Lists
OCTOBER 14, 2007. TNS, a world leader in market insight and information, today released the second phase of the results of its American Traveler Study, which unveils international travel preferences of Americans. It uncovers the destinations around the globe that Americans are frequenting, and where they have been most satisfied with their stay.
"We're finding that due to the continuing economic decline, rising fuel costs and the weakening strength of the US dollar, there is a marked decline on international travel," said Rick Cain, Senior Vice President, TNS. "We continue to see year over year, decreased foreign travel. People are staying closer to home, which is less expensive."
TNS asked more than 8,000 American respondents which states they had vacationed to in the past year. Based on their responses, the top five international travel destinations for Americans are:
o Canada
o Caribbean/Bermuda
o Mexico
o British Isles
o France
To create the TNS Traveler Satisfaction Index, the same respondents were asked which international destinations they especially like among those they have visited in the past three years. The destinations were then ranked beginning with the highest score. Based on their responses, the international destinations with the highest satisfaction rating are:
o Australia
o London
o Ireland
o Scotland
o British Columbia
"The larger, popular international destinations tend to be quite stable -- especially the English-speaking destinations -- while the smaller regions reveal greater volatility," said Cain. "These destinations offer Americans a chance to experience something more exotic while still having the comfort of their native language."
Conducted for ten years, the American Traveler Study is an industry-wide effort to understand leisure and business travel habits and inter-relationships, including travel choices, motivations, trends, booking patterns, attitudes and satisfaction levels. In related news, TNS released the results of domestic travel preferences on September 2, 2008.
Methodology
TNS surveyed more than 15,000 Americans through the mail to complete this survey. The survey was conducted February 1, 2008 through February 29, 2008.
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