I’ve been tracking travel trends since 1988. Every year at about this time, the news is flush with polls, predictions and prognostications for the upcoming summer travel season. So let’s examine this week’s AP-Gfk poll that produced gloomy headlines such as, Fewer Americans Vacationing This Summer.
Really? You know you can spin a poll number any way you’d like, so here’s another way of looking at the AP-Gfk Travel Poll of 1,000 U.S. adults taken April 16 to 20:
• Despite the gloom and doom, two-thirds of Americans HAVE NOT canceled at least one trip this year because of financial concerns.
• Given the state of the economy, a startling 42 percent of Americans plan to take a leisure trip this summer, down only seven points since 2005 (from 49 percent) when the economy was in significantly better shape.
• Two-thirds of those who make more than $100,000 per year will take a vacation this summer. Half of those earning $50,000 to $100,000 will do the same.
• The “staycation” is dead: The poll found that 80 percent of those planning a trip this summer WILL NOT stay closer to home due to economic worries, while 77 percent plan to stay at a hotel and NOT in the guest room or on the sofa of friends and families.
Chris McGinnis keeps San Francisco Bay Area travelers informed with the Bay Area Traveler.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I love your spin Chris!! Because yours is actually not the spin. The way you have it is how it should be told. Let’s be honest God forbid the media didn’t tell a story with a positive outlook…
Thanks for pointing out the positive – it is so few and far between!!!
What I find hard to believe is that 1,000 people who answered the phone and participated in the survey represents the 220+ million adults in the US (there are about 300 million people in the US, and I am guessing on how many are over 18, but it still seems like a minute percent polled).
But despite my concerns regarding the accuracy of this, I agree with Don that Chris did a better job of reporting the results. Just shows that the MSM like to focus on the negative, not the positive.