Summer Travel Survey 2024 – 82% to Travel (Down 3% YoY), 52% to Fly on a Plane, 75%+ to Road Trip, 25% to Travel Internationally

Do you plan on traveling this summer?

Let’s take a look at the survey results:

• Yes, one time. — 40.06%
• Yes, more than once. — 41.65%
• No. — 18.29%

Interesting Demographic Comparison — Americans in the East South Central Region are the least likely to have intentions to travel this summer. 32.73% of people in this region said they will not vacation during the summer. This is significantly more than the number of people in every other region who said they do not intend to travel. On the other hand, Americans in the New England region are the most likely to have intentions to travel this summer. Only 14.29% of people said they would not.

Key Takeaway — Nearly 82% of all American adults intend to travel for 2024. The 81.71% that stated these intentions account for more than 212 million Americans, according to the latest census. This figure includes the 40.06% that said they intend to travel only once and the 41.65% that intend to travel more than once. The 41.65% implies that more than 108 million Americans plan to travel more than once this summer. While these figures show that summer 2024 will be a very busy travel season, they are down about 3% from our 2023 summer survey.

Where will you travel this summer?

Let’s take a look at the survey results:

• I won’t travel this summer. — 18.29%
• Domestically only. — 57.22%
• Internationally only. — 6.10%
• Both Domestically and Internationally. — 18.39%

Interesting Demographic Comparison — American adults between 18 and 29 are the most likely to intend to travel internationally this summer. We found more than 30% of people between 18 and 29 plan to vacation outside the United States. On the other hand, American adults over 60 are the least likely to travel abroad this summer. Only about 10% of Americans over 60 have these intentions.

Key Takeaway — Nearly 25% of American adults intend to travel internationally this summer. This figure includes the 6.10% who intend to travel internationally only and the 18.39% who intend to travel both domestically and internationally. The total 24.49% means nearly 64 million Americans will travel abroad this summer. Nearly 76% of American adults, or more than 196 million people, intend to vacation domestically this summer.

Will you travel on a plane this summer?

Let’s take a look at the survey results:

• Yes, one time. — 28.80%
• Yes, more than once. — 22.98%
• No. — 48.22%

Interesting Demographic Comparison — Our survey indicates that men are more likely than women to have intentions of flying on a plane this summer. 55.67% of men said they intend to fly on a plane at least once this summer. On the other hand, only 48.31% of women stated intentions to fly on a plane. Men are also significantly more likely to state they intend to fly more than once this summer.

Key Takeaway — Nearly 52% of American adults will fly on a plane this summer. The 51.78% that stated these intentions is a combination of the 28.80% of Americans who intend to fly once and the 22.98% of Americans who intend to fly more than once. This means more than 134 million Americans will fly on a plane this summer. The percentage of people who intend to fly on a plane this summer is 2.3% less than our 2023 survey. This fact, and our data above, indicates that slightly fewer people will travel this summer than last.

Further Reading: How to Find Cheap Summer Flights and How to Find Cheap Flights

Will you take a road trip this summer? 

Let’s take a look at the survey results:

• No. — 24.58%
• Yes, within 100 miles of my home. — 21.20%
• Yes, within 250 miles of my home. — 20.83%
• Yes, within 500 miles of my home. — 19.14%
• Yes, within 1,000 miles of my home. — 8.44%
• Yes, more than 1,000 miles from my home. — 5.82%

Interesting Demographic Comparison — American adults over age 60 are the least likely to have intentions of a road trip this summer. Only 65.81% of people over age 60 say they will do any kind of road trip for summer 2024. On the other hand, the most likely age group for intentions of road-tripping this summer are those Americans between the ages of 45 and 60. Nearly 85% of Americans in this age bracket intend to road trip this summer.

Key Takeaway — Over 75% of American adults intend to take a road trip this summer. The 75.42% with these intentions accounts for nearly 196 million people. While many Americans will take shorter road trips of less than 100 miles or less than 250 miles, more than 33% or almost 87 million people will take a road trip more than 250 miles from home. 5.82% or about 15 million people will road trip more than 1,000 miles from home!

Survey Methodology

This 2024 Summer Travel Survey was conducted by SurveyMonkey on behalf of The Vacationer. In total, 1,066 Americans over the age of 18 were polled on March 27. Of those surveyed, 47.19% were male and 52.81% were female. The age breakdown of participants included in this survey was 16.14% in the range 18-29, 32.27% in the range 30-44, 26.08% in the range 45-60, and 25.52% over 60. This survey has a confidence level of 95% and a margin of error of ±3.063%. 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.

Featured Image: Eric Jones / The Vacationer