Tracking Trends in the Travel & Hospitality Industry
Updated: Mar. 2, 2023 | By Lindsey Roeschke
After being deeply impacted by the pandemic, the travel & hospitality industry is currently navigating an uneven recovery. Leaders of travel and tourism brands must understand ever-evolving consumer preferences and expectations — which in turn are influenced by health concerns, logistical hurdles and new ways of working and living — in order to better serve travelers.
To help leaders stay informed about the most important post-pandemic travel trends, Morning Consult tracks travelers’ behaviors, attitudes and expectations through a monthly survey of roughly 2,200 U.S. adults. We’ll be updating this page with new data and analysis each month. Sign up for alerts below.
The methodology for the tracker is included at the bottom of this page.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Flexible work is enabling more families to take longer trips. Many parents are planning spring and summer trips with their families that aren’t confined to a weekend-to-weekend schedule. The share of parents with children in elementary school who said their next trip will be one to two weeks long increased from 16% in December to 21% in February.
Gen Zers are emerging from “cuffing season” with travel companions. Despite conventional wisdom about young people enjoying group travel, the share of Gen Z adults who are planning trips with friends is declining — it’s now 26%, the lowest since we began tracking in October 2021. Rather, a plurality now say they’ll travel with a romantic partner: 45% of Gen Z adults said they plan to take a trip with a significant other in the next 12 months, up 10 percentage points from January.
Ongoing price concerns are leading consumers to cut back on more expensive trips. While worries about inflation have been cooling slightly, expensive destinations like resorts and theme parks are still off the table for travelers looking to stick to a tight budget. The share of travelers who said they plan to visit a theme park in the next 12 months declined by 5 points (38% to 33%) from January to February, and the share who said they’d visit a resort is down 4 points, from 40% to 36%.
Share of U.S. adults who have done the following in the past month:
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LEISURE TRAVEL
Respondents were asked when they anticipate taking their next leisure trip
Travelers were asked how and where they would travel for leisure in the next 12 months
Respondents were asked what transportation and accommodation options they expect to use during leisure trips in the next three months
BUSINESS TRAVEL
Respondents were asked when they anticipate taking their next business trip
Respondents were asked what transportation and accommodation options they expect to use during business trips in the next three months
BOOKING TRENDS
Share of respondents who identified the following as top priorities when booking transportation:
Share of respondents who identified the following as top priorities when booking accommodation:
Travelers were asked what factors influenced their upcoming leisure trip plans
TRUST AND ENGAGEMENT
Share of respondents who trust the following industries to do what is right:
Share of respondents who trust the following types of travel companies:
Shares of respondents who are members of a travel loyalty/rewards program
PANDEMIC SAFETY MEASURES
Respondents were asked whether the following factors made them more or less willing to travel domestically compared with before the pandemic:
Share of respondents who said travel brands should “definitely” or “probably” do the following:
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Methodology
The Travel & Hospitality Monthly Trend Tracker relies on data collected through Morning Consult’s proprietary survey research capabilities. The interviews are conducted online, and the data is weighted to approximate a representative sample of U.S. adults based on gender, educational attainment, age, race and region. The full survey has a monthly sample size of roughly 2,200 U.S. adults and an unweighted margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
About Morning Consult
Morning Consult is a global decision intelligence company changing how modern leaders make smarter, faster, better decisions. The company pairs its proprietary high-frequency data with applied artificial intelligence to better inform decisions on what people think and how they will act. Learn more at morningconsult.com
About the author
Lindsey Roeschke is the travel and hospitality analyst at global intelligence company Morning Consult, where she leads the company’s travel analysis to deliver real time insights for leaders in the sector.
Special thanks to Matthew Howe, senior manager of travel intelligence at Morning Consult, for his assistance with this project.
Email press@morningconsult.com to speak with a member of the Morning Consult team.