Holiday Travel Still Strong Among Upper-earners
Middle and lower income Americans staying home and spending much less this year
DECEMBER 17, 2008 - With bad news continuing on nearly every economic front, holiday travel remains a tradition -- at least among those that can afford it. According to a recent Maritz(R) Poll, wealthier Americans plan to spend, on average, nearly $1000 more this year on holiday travel, compared to last. However, lower middle income earners plan to spend half as much on holiday travel compared to last year.
"Holiday travel has been consistently one of the most resilient practices of Americans. It has withstood economic ups-and-downs since Maritz started tracking it in 2001," said Rick Garlick, Ph.D., director of consulting and strategic implementation, Maritz Research. "However, these are unprecedented times. The data from this study show that the incidence of holiday travel is expected to decline, particularly among lower wage earners."
The exception to this year's bad news is wealthier Americans. Although a few more upper-earners may have stayed at home for Thanksgiving this year, this group plans to hit the airways and highways for the winter holidays at the same pace as last year and plan to spend even more money than in the previous year.
The Maritz study looked at four different categories of household earners: those earning between $35,000 and $74,999 (lower middle income), those earning between $75,000 and $99,999 (middle income), those earning between $100,000 and $249,999, and those earning $250,000 or more (upper income.) Those in the study were asked about their recent Thanksgiving travel compared to 2007, as well as their plans for the upcoming winter holidays (Christmas, New Year's and Hanukkah).
Holiday travelers were asked to estimate their total spend for holiday travel this year. Those in the lower income category plan to spend less than half of what they spent in 2007. Middle and upper-middle income earners were planning to spend approximately the same amount. However, the wealthiest Americans planned to increase the average spent on holiday travel by nearly $1000.
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