Labor Day Travel Drops Over 13% for 2009
Thursday, September 10th, 2009
As more Americans scale back their luxury expenses for the year, many are forgoing traditional Labor Day traveling and staying home to save money. According to a recent survey by the AAA Auto and Travel Group, travel rates are expected to drop 13.3 percent over Labor Day week and weekend as compared to the same time a year ago. This sharp decline comes as a surprise to many trend and market analysts because Labor Day weekend has traditionally been one of the strongest travel weekends of the year.
While the economic climate could be to blame, some researchers believe that holiday travel is also dropping because Labor Day weekend coincides with the first week of school in many states. Parents are opting to stay home as they prepare for back to school week and may prefer to keep the kids at home so that they can adjust to the new schedule.
Will the situation improve for the holiday season? It’s too soon to tell, but analysts at the U.S. Travel Association believe that 63 percent of U.S. adults are planning to take at least one leisure trip between August 2009 and January 2010, which is almost a 61 percent increase over the same travel section surveyed in July 2008. As the cost of travel continues to drop with airlines offering incentives and hotels offering deep discounts on overnight accommodations and extended stays, there may be an increase in travel in the oncoming months. This could mean a healthier demand for travel over Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s in both the leisure and business travel segment.
The U.S. Travel Association also reports that travelers are still concerned about having enough money for travel, but are planning to juggle their budget by shopping for cheap airline tickets and travel packages online, and making reservations in advance to secure the lowest rates available.
