A survey of more than 2,000 frequent travelers conducted in April for Travel + Leisure magazine indicated that higher-income consumers are continuing to make plans to travel on leisure in the next 12 months, and that their spending plans for the most part are holding up.
A total of 89% of respondents, whose median household income was $100,718, said they plan to travel within the U.S. in the next 12 months. And 65% of respondents said they planned to travel internationally.
When asked about spending plans, 70% said they planned to spend the same amount or more than they had budgeted prior to the economic slowdown, indicating that while most higher-income consumers are not cutting back, a sizable minority appears to be budgeting more cautiously.
The survey, conducted for Travel + Leisure by ARGI, also revealed other information about the respondents' travel intentions for the next 12 months. Top destinations for planned domestic travel were (in order): California, Florida, New York, Nevada, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington.
Top destinations for planned international travel were (in order): the Caribbean, Mexico, Europe, Asia and Canada.
The respondents were pre-screened to include only those that had taken either a foreign or domestic trip in the past year.