Financial outlook weakens
According to Future Partners’ October State of the American Traveler study, household financial confidence among American travelers declined for a third consecutive month. About 31.7% of travelers said their household was financially better off than a year earlier, down from 32.8% last month and 34.8% in September 2025. The share saying they were worse off rose to 27.1% from 25.3%.
Younger travelers and parents were more likely to report improved finances. Nearly half of Gen Z respondents (49.4%) said they were better off, as did 47.8% of parents with school-aged children. By comparison, 20.5% of Boomers and 25.8% of Gen X travelers reported being financially better off.
Expectations for the next year also weakened. About 43.3% expected their household finances to improve over the coming year, down from 45% the prior month. Recession expectations increased to 48.5%, the highest level since May. More than half of travelers, 53.5%, said they were being careful with money because of recession concerns.
Financial caution was most prevalent among lower-income respondents. Nearly 62.3% of travelers with household incomes below $49,000 said they were monitoring their spending, compared with 34.2% of respondents earning $200,000 or more.
Travel activity remains above 2025 levels
Despite weaker sentiment, travel participation remained higher than it was a year ago. About 57.3% of respondents took an overnight leisure trip in the prior month, nearly unchanged from 57.5% in the previous survey but above the 49.6% reported in September 2025.
Overnight visits to friends and relatives fell to 51% from 53.1% but remained above the 44.9% level recorded a year earlier. Leisure day trips also eased slightly to 56.8% from 57.9%, but remained above the 51.7% reported in September 2025.
Gen Z travelers, Millennials and parents of school-aged children were the most likely groups to have taken overnight leisure trips. The survey found that 70.1% of parents, 67.8% of Gen Z respondents, and 64.7% of Millennials had recently taken overnight leisure trips. The figure for Boomers was 47%.
Income was more closely associated with overnight travel than with day trips. Among travelers earning at least $200,000 annually, 66.9% had taken an overnight leisure trip, compared with 49% of those earning less than $49,000. Lower-income travelers were slightly more likely than high-income respondents to report an overnight visit with friends or relatives.
Income gap affects travel spending and costs
Travel spending intentions were largely steady, although fewer respondents viewed the period as a good time to spend on leisure travel. One-third (33.3%) said it was a good time to make such spending, down from 34.7% a month earlier. The average annual travel budget was $5,687, down from $6,068 a year earlier.
Half of travelers earning $200,000 or more said it was a good time to spend on leisure travel, compared with 18.5% of those earning less than $49,000. Higher-income respondents reported an average annual travel budget of $13,600, compared with $2,008 for the lowest-income group.
Travel costs remained a major deterrent. About 36.8% said travel was too expensive, while 32.7% cited high gas prices as a reason they had not traveled more during the past six months. The share citing gasoline costs was more than twice what it was a year earlier.
Gas prices affected lower-income and rural travelers most sharply. About 46% of travelers earning below $49,000 and 46.4% of rural respondents cited fuel costs. Only 11.3% of travelers earning at least $200,000 reported gas prices as a deterrent.
Holiday travel plans extend into 2027
Travelers continued making plans for the holidays and later dates. Nearly half of respondents, 48.4%, said they had a trip of at least 50 miles planned for an upcoming holiday. Christmas was the most commonly cited occasion, with 34.5% reporting a planned trip, followed by Thanksgiving at 26% and New Year’s Day at 12.3%.
Holiday travel was more common among younger travelers and parents than among Boomers and non-parents. About 67.3% of Gen Z respondents and 63.8% of parents of school-aged children planned a holiday trip. The comparable figures were 38.7% for Boomers and 40.9% for non-parents.
Many planned holiday trips were not visits to friends or relatives. Among travelers with a planned holiday trip, about half said the trip did not involve visiting family or friends. Beaches and urban areas were the most commonly preferred destination types, followed by small towns, rural destinations and road trips.
About 35.6% of travelers planned for sometime later in 2027, up from 30.6% a month earlier. However, planning windows remained relatively short. A weeklong domestic trip was typically planned about 10.4 weeks in advance, and 22% of travelers planned such trips within one to four weeks.
Search and personal recommendations lead planning
Online search engines and recommendations from friends and family were the most commonly used resources for travelers planning their most recent overnight trip. 48.4% of respondents used search engines, followed by word of mouth at 47.1%. Social media was used by 30.2%, while 23.8% used YouTube or other video content.
21.1% of respondents used official destination websites and visitor guides, followed by online travel agencies at 19.7% and AI chatbots at 15.4%.
The order in which travelers used resources showed that search, personal recommendations and social media generally occurred early in the planning process. Among travelers who used search engines, 94.5% used them within their first three planning steps. Word of mouth and social media were similar, at 93.9% and 91.5%, respectively.
AI tools were generally used later, after travelers had begun narrowing options. About 32.2% of respondents said they had used AI for trip planning at some point, up from 24% a year earlier. AI use was highest among parents, Millennials and Gen Z travelers, while 17.5% of Boomers reported using AI for travel planning.
Airport spending and screen-related travel
Among respondents who took a commercial flight in the past year, 67.3% said they ate at an airport restaurant, and 62.5% shopped at an airport retail store. Snacks and packaged food were the most frequently purchased items, followed by souvenirs, reading materials and clothing.
About 34.5% of American travelers said they had visited a destination or attraction because it was featured in a movie or television series. This type of travel was most common among Gen Z travelers, Millennials and parents.
Some 27.7% of respondents said they were likely to take a screen-related trip within the next two years. Interest was substantially higher among younger travelers than among Boomers, while income differences were less pronounced than in other travel categories.