Consumers are not ready to throw away their travel plans despite growing economic dysfunction. But they are looking for bargains – and hoping to find them on the public road.
On Tuesday, about 53% of U.S. consumers plan to leave this season from 48% a year ago. Analysts say that as travelers take a “more modest approach” this year, approaching cars in a car is shorter, but they are more interested in travelling more frequently than approaching home.
Chris Narves, 45, was scheduled to visit London and Rome this summer. Airfares to Europe have fallen by 8%, according to travel booking platform Hopper, but the New York City-based HR director said he would “hit the pause button” when traveling abroad.
“Whether it’s new visa requirements, current management, air traffic control challenges, and nearby mistakes at my local airport, I’m not as comfortable as getting on a plane,” he said. Instead, he clings to the East Coast. Vineyards in Martha, MA – Loaded into the car with a friend and his 15-year-old Shepherd mix, Eli.
Alexissa Humphrey, owner of Sugar and Spice Trip in Lebanon, Tennessee, said customers are still on adventures. But like Narves, “they have shorter, more budget-friendly trips,” she said. “We had our client cancel the flight and instead drive or book a train.”
Instead, I had my client cancel my flight and drive or book a train.
Alexissa Humphrey, owner of Sugar and Spy Strata in Lebanon, Tennessee.
Highway driving is far more dangerous than commercial air travel or passenger rail, federal data shows. However, recent air traffic control issues at Newar Liberty International Airport have surprised many travelers, Humphrey said. NBC News reported Tuesday that travel at busy New Jersey airports has fallen 20% from last year.
Cost is also a factor. According to Hopper, round-trip domestic flights have hit a three-year low, but driving is usually much more affordable. According to the AAA, gas is about 40 cents cheaper than a year ago. This expects 45.1 million people will be at least 50 miles apart over a long holiday weekend. This marks a jump of over 3% since 2024, the highest level in 2020.
US consumers are cutting their vacation budgets as price hiking headlines grow and economic sentiment falls into historic low waters. Travelers told Deloitte in March that they plan to spend an average of $3,987 on major summer trips. However, just two weeks later, they estimate that, like crazy tariff news rattles off the stock market, it has shrunk to less than 1% since 2024.
Latisha Hunt, a real estate agent and Air Force veteran from Biloxi, Mississippi, is one of Humphrey’s clients who recently coordinated plans for the summer. She reduced her trip to Panama from 7 to 3 days in early July, driving five and a half hours to the Atlanta airport, rather than jumping out of something small close to her home.
“It’s more affordable and better manage your overall experience,” said Hunt, 39, who plans a car trip to Alabama, Tennessee, Ohio and Michigan in the coming months. “I stay with family and friends along the way. This helps keep costs low and add a more personal and meaningful touch to each visit.”
Hunt has many companies on the road. Of the drivers surveyed by gas station video network GSTV this winter, 56% said they plan to drive more during their summer holidays than last year. 54% reported that they chose to drive in flight to save money.
Many summer road trippers are tight budgets. Researchers at Bank of America found that they were driving transport modes for low- and middle-income vacationers this summer. We found that this preferred by at least 64% of each group compared to less than 55% of older adults.
The good news is that car rental costs fell by about 2.1% from the previous year in April, according to federal data, and Hopper expects it to remain flat at the 2024 level throughout the summer. However, as major car rental operators are being adjusted to slow demand, some demand, including Avis Budget Group and Hertz, are reducing fleets, allowing for less vehicle selection.
Motor travelers may need to make extra budgets for parking at airports and hotels. Many of them can cost between a few dollars and $80 a day. Driver-friendly hotels along the main highways and the outside of urban areas often offer free parking every day, but overnight rates can exceed $100 per night in high-demand lots.
In fact, road trippers are a rapidly growing slice of the business of accommodation operators. Hotel parking revenues skyrocketed 18% between 2019 and 2024, according to real estate and investment company CBRE. Hotel revenues totaled less than 7% over the same period.
“We’ve seen a lot of experience in our hotels,” said Robert Mandelbaum, director of hotel research at CBRE. “This is a combination of hotels that charge more in the car park and hotels that charge more parking fees that weren’t before Covid.”