Christmas Travel Survey 2024 – 45%+ to Travel (117 Million Americans); 32%+ to Spend $1,001+ on Travel; 46% Expect Airline Delays/Cancellations; Gift Giving Most Disliked Holiday Tradition

Many people over the next month will travel for a December holiday such as Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa. As tens of millions of Americans traveled over Thanksgiving, many also have travel plans for December (see the best & worst days to fly around Christmas). And, some who did not travel for Thanksgiving intend to do so for Christmas.

We conducted this 2024 Christmas travel survey in conjunction with our Thanksgiving survey. We wanted to know how many people intended to travel for Christmas. How much did they intend to spend on their Christmas travel plans? Are they confident airlines can avoid major delays and cancellations? And, for fun, which major holiday tradition do Americans dislike? Below you can find the results of our survey.

Key Stats:

* 45.01%, which equates to 117 million American adults, plan to travel to a vacation destination or holiday gathering for Christmas 2024 and other December holidays. The 45.01% is nearly 6% less than the 50.96% of American adults who stated intentions of traveling for Thanksgiving 2024

* 32.25% say they will spend $1,001 or more to travel to a vacation destination or holiday gathering for Christmas this year.

*45.97% of American adults say they have little or no confidence in airlines being able to avoid interruptions such as excessive delays and cancellations this holiday season. Last year, 59.23% said they had little or no confidence, so Americans are more trusting of airlines this year.

* Gift Exchange (31.67%), a Meal with Friends or Family (26.97%), and Holiday Party (26.10%) are this year’s most disliked holiday traditions.

Do you plan on traveling to a vacation destination or holiday gathering (by car, bus, train, airplane, etc.) during the holidays this year?

Photo: Eric Jones screenshot via SurveyMonkey

Let’s take a look at the survey results:

• Thanksgiving. — 22.07%
• Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa. — 16.12%
• Both. — 28.89%
• No. — 32.92%

Interesting Demographic Comparison — The youngest Americans aged 18-29 are the most likely to travel for Christmas this year. 54.96% of people in this age range stated intentions to travel for Christmas this year. On the other hand, only 32.96% of American adults of age 60 said they intend to travel for Christmas.

Key Takeaway — More than 45% of American adults intend to travel for Christmas or another December holiday this year. This figure includes the 28.89% that will travel for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. It also consists of the 16.12% who intend to only travel for Christmas. In total, the 45.01% intending to travel for a December holiday represents nearly 117 million people based on the latest census. The 45.01% is over 5% less than the 50.44% of American adults who intended to travel for Christmas last year. Additionally, the 45.01% is nearly 6% less than the 50.96% of American adults who stated intentions of traveling for Thanksgiving 2024. So, while the Christmas travel season will be busy, it will be a bit less busy than Thanksgiving.

How much will you spend to travel for Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa this year? (gas, flights, hotels, tickets, etc.)

Photo: Eric Jones screenshot via SurveyMonkey

Let’s take a look at the survey results:

• $0. — 29.08%
• $500 or Less. — 21.40%
• $501 to $1,000. — 17.27%
• $1,001 to $1,500. — 14.78%
• $1,501 to $2,000. — 11.42%
• $2,000 or More. — 6.05%

Interesting Demographic Comparison — American adults in the East North Central region are the least likely to spend money on Christmas travel. 50.94% of people in this region said they will spend $0. The East North Central region includes the states of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin. On the other hand, Americans in the Middle Atlantic region which consists of the states of New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania are the most likely to spend money. Only 16.90% of people in the Middle Atlantic region said they would spend $0 for Christmas travel.

Key Takeaway — More than 32% of American adults will spend over $1,000 to travel for Christmas or another December holiday. This equates to nearly 84 million people spending over $1,000 to travel for Christmas. The figure is the combination of the 14.78% that will spend between $1,001 to $1,500, the 11.42% that will spend $1,501 to $2,000, and the 6.05% that will spend more than $2,000.

How confident are you in airlines being able to avoid excessive delays and cancellations this holiday season?

Photo: Eric Jones screenshot via SurveyMonkey

Let’s take a look at the survey results:

• Not Confident at All. — 25.82%
• A Little Confident.  — 20.15%
• Somewhat Confident. — 24.09%
• Confident. — 15.26%
• Extremely Confident. — 14.68%

Interesting Demographic Comparison — The youngest generation of American adults is the least likely to feel confident or extremely confident in the ability of airlines to avoid delays and cancellations this year. Only 12.98% of Americans aged 18-29 are confident or extremely confident in airlines for the holiday season. This seems like a bit of a contradiction as these Americans are the ones who stated they are the most likely to travel for Christmas. Americans over age 60 are also skeptical of airlines with only 17.87% saying they are confident or extremely confident.

Key Takeaway — Nearly 30% of American adults say they are confident or extremely confident that airlines can avoid major delays and cancellations this holiday season. The 15.26% that say they are confident and the 14.68% that say they are extremely confident combine to represent nearly 78 million people. In our holiday travel survey last year, only 15.6% of American adults were either confident or extremely confident in airlines avoiding major delays or cancellations. This means the confidence people have in airlines nearly doubled in one year.

Which popular holiday traditions do you dislike? (Check All that Apply Except If You Are Checking the Last Choice.)

Here is the complete ranked list of most disliked holiday traditions:

1. Gift Exchange. — 31.67%
2. Meal with Friends or Family. — 26.97%
3. Holiday Party. — 26.10%
4. Attending a Religious Service. — 23.22%
5. Caroling or Singing. — 23.22%
6. Decorating Your Home. — 20.83%
7. Baking Cookies or Other Sweet Treats. — 16.31%
8. Lighting Candles. — 12.96%
9. Volunteering. — 12.76%
10. Santa Claus. — 9.50%
11. Seeing Lights. — 8.54%
12. A Family Tradition. — 8.25%
13. Christmas Trees. — 6.81%
None of these. I like them all. — 24.09%

*Note: Survey respondents could choose as many items as they wanted.

Interesting Demographic Comparison — Men are significantly more likely than women to say they dislike a holiday tradition. Only 15.92% of men said they liked all of the holiday traditions on our list. On the other hand, 30.82% of American women said they liked all of the holiday traditions on our list. This means women are nearly twice as likely to like holiday traditions than men.

Key Takeaway — The three most disliked holiday traditions are gift exchanges, meals with friends or family, and holiday parties. The 31.67% that said they dislike gift exchanges represents 82 million American adults. The 26.97% that said they dislike a meal with family and friends represents 70 million people. And, the 26.10% that said they dislike holiday parties represents 68 million people. Despite all of the disliking, nearly a quarter of all American adults said they liked all of the traditions on our list.

Survey Methodology

This 2024 Christmas Travel Survey was conducted by SurveyMonkey on behalf of The Vacationer. In total, 1,042 Americans over the age of 18 were polled on October 4. Of those surveyed, 45.20% were male and 54.80% were female. The age breakdown of participants included in this survey was 12.57% in the range 18-29, 35.12% in the range 30-44, 35.12% in the range 45-60, and 17.18% over 60. This survey has a confidence level of 95% and a margin of error of ±3.158%. You can learn more about SurveyMonkey’s sampling method by clicking here.

The questions were chosen and the results were analyzed by the post author, Eric Jones, who is a Mathematics and Statistics Professor at Rowan College South Jersey.