Despite a significant decline in the rate of inflation in the U.S. the past couple of years, according to the latest Longwoods International tracking study of American travelers, 57% of them report that inflation is still impacting their decision to travel in the next six months.  And the percentage of travelers who say that inflation will greatly impact their travel decisions in the next six months jumped from 24% in July to 30% in August, the highest level in 2024.

“The impact of inflation and higher prices on travel remains stubbornly elevated,” said Amir Eylon, President and CEO of Longwoods International.  “The fact that inflation is a political issue in this election year may be as much as factor in traveler perceptions on this topic as the actual inflation data.”

The use of Chat GTP and similar AI software for travel planning continues to grow.   Nineteen percent of travelers used these AI travel planning tools in the last six months, up from 14% in February.   And 34% of travelers say it’s likely they will use these tools to plan their next trip.

The survey, supported by Miles Partnership, was fielded August 6, 2024 using a national sample randomly drawn from a consumer panel of 1,000 adults, ages 18 and over.  Quotas were used to match Census targets for age, gender, and region to make the survey representative of the U. S. population.

Longwoods International is a leading travel and tourism research consultancy with headquarters in Columbus, Ohio and Toronto Canada, and offices in Florida, North Carolina, New York, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin.  It conducts Longwoods Travel USA®, the largest ongoing survey of American travelers, as well as image, advertising effectiveness, advertising return on investment, sentiment, and other custom research in 12 countries around the globe.