The World According to Travelers: 2006
By Amy Ziff, Editor-at-Large
January 18, 2006
The beginning of the year is the perfect time to evaluate what is to come, and that is precisely what my annual travel forecast does. Will travelers take more trips abroad in 2006? Will the family pet go along? Are travelers doing double duty by tacking on vacation to business trips? That and more can be found in my latest travel poll findings.
If you haven't thought about what you're planning to do this year, it's not too late. I've set a few travel resolutions for myself this year--I call them my 2006 "travelutions." I've decided to take a big trip and am headed to Kenya for a safari. I want to see big cats. And speaking of, I found that 25% of travelers surveyed take their pets with them when they travel. (Most travel with dogs and cats, so no wonder catering to our fury friends has become such a mega-trend.) Also on my travel docket for the year ahead is to take a volunteer vacation, I'm hoping to do that in Rwanda. Now, not everyone wants to travel as far off as I do. In fact I'm in a very small minority. The most popular international travel destinations for 2006 are the Caribbean and Europe.
Below, 2,800 travelers like you share their upcoming plans for the year in travel.
While it may not be the juiciest tidbit, it's interesting to know where you rate on the vacation scale: getting, using, and taking. Most Americans who work full time get somewhere between two and four weeks of vacation annually, and they choose to spend more than half of it away from home.
While travelers are becoming more acutely aware of exotic destinations around the globe, and although the Internet allows them to access low-fare tickets and makes the search simpler, the majority of vacationers (60%) continue to visit the same spots year after year. In fact, most of these repeat destinations are right here in the United States.
Despite the rise in annual trips, people plan to travel more internationally in 2006. I found that 24% of travelers have visited 3-5 countries, 15.5% have been to 6-8, 12% have visited two, and 11% have never been outside of the U.S.
For many lucky travelers, their vacation airfare will be paid by their companies, as about half of our respondents plan to combine leisure travel with a pre-planned business trip. Of those travelers, a majority plan to bring along a spouse or child.
Special trips will be high on the agenda in 2006, with reasons like birthdays, anniversaries, family reunions, sports, cultural events, and weddings among the most popular reasons to leave town.
The places to travel this year are infinite, and the ways to do so can suit every budget, so set your “travelutions” today! For more information on this poll visit: www.travelocity.com/2006forecast.
Amy's request for email: Please tell me if you've ever had something wonderful happen to you as a result of a stranger's kindness while traveling. Send your story to my email at askamy@travelocity.com.
For more travel tips and advice, check out Amy Ziff’s monthly column, Travel Trends & Advice from A to Z, at www.travelocity.com/atoz. To suggest a topic for a future column or to tell about a travel experience of your own, please email Amy Ziff at ask.amy@travelocity.com.
|
|
|
