NEW YORK NY – Nearly half of all Americans plan to travel between the 2024 Thanksgiving holiday and mid-January 2025, a new holiday travel survey shows. The survey by New York-based auditing firm Deloitte Services LP also adds those travelers are likely to spend about 4% more on their excursions, it adds.
Of more than 4,000 people surveyed nationwide during mid-September, 28% said their travel budgets are larger than last year. Many voiced the opinion that, for them, “travel has become more important.”
That emphasis also is seen, Deloitte says, in the frequency and length of trips. “Holiday travelers plan to take 2.14 trips, up from 1.88 last year, and 33% are planning vacations of a week or longer, compared to 25%” in 2023, it states. Survey results indicated “younger and higher-income travelers are largely driving travel this season,” according to Deloitte.
Planned travel is concentrated around two major holidays. The survey shows 3-in-10 Americans plan to travel during Thanksgiving. A quarter are planning a trip around the December holidays.
Photo by Anton Lozovoy on Deposit Photos, used under license
Lugging A Laptop? You’re Not Alone
Travelers are not, however, leaving their jobs behind. Working while traveling, known in the travel industry as “laptop lugging,” makes a significant jump in Deloitte’s holiday survey for the first time since 2021.
The survey indicates:
- Half (49%) of travelers intend to work, at least partially, on their longest leisure trip of the holiday season. That up about one-third (34%) over last year;
- Laptop lugging is largely driven by younger- and higher-income travelers. Fifty-eight percent of Gen Z travelers, and 54% of millennials, say they will bring part of the office with them; 52% of high-income travelers say the same. The trend is up across all income levels and age groups;
- Holiday travelers claim remote work enables them to take, and extend, more seasonal trips. Laptop luggers plan to take an average of 2.7 trips this season, compared to just 2 trips for those unplugging entirely;
- Laptop luggers are also more inclined to travel internationally.
Airline photo by Artturi Jalli on Unsplash, used by Travels With The Post under license
Photo by Anton Lozovoy on Deposit Photos, used by Travels With The Post under license
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