Travel spending among Americans is expected to continue to climb in 2012, with 48.2% of Travel Leaders agencies saying that their clients are indicating they will spend somewhat or significantly more on travel in the coming year than in 2011.
According to Travel Leaders' 2012 Travel Trends Survey, 43.1% indicate that clients will spend the same as they did in 2011, and 8.7% plan to spend somewhat or significantly less.
The survey, conducted from Nov. 21 to Dec. 16, is based on booking data from 640 Travel Leaders owners, managers and travel agents throughout the United States.
The survey found that Americans are interested in traveling farther from home than in recent years, with 11 of the top 20 international destinations in Europe, Asia and Australia, up from nine last year.
“We are very encouraged to see the rise in popularity of such a diverse group of international destinations. We have come to expect London, Rome and — more recently — European river cruising to be near the top of our survey. However, it is nice to see Americans’ interests are diversifying and in large enough numbers to bump up destinations such as Hong Kong and Beijing in Asia, and Amsterdam and Barcelona in Europe,” stated Roger E. Block, president of Travel Leaders Franchise Group.
Travel Leaders agent don’t expect bookings to climb as much in 2012 as they did this year; 39.5% say 2012 bookings were already higher compared to 2011, while last year at the same time 50.3% found 2011 bookings were higher than in 2010.
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