2015 Travel Trends to Help You Plan Family Vacations

Getting ready to plan your family vacations for next year? Check out the 2015 travel trends to find out the best places to go, when to travel and more!

Choice Hotels recently released their 2015 travel trends survey findings and we thought we’d share some of the interesting results with you as you start planning family vacations! Some of the trends are quite surprising. For example, 26 percent of those surveyed said they would give up their smartphone during their vacation if it meant getting a discount! Considering how connected we all are these days, that is quite surprising to me. Oddly, free Wi-Fi still ranked as one of the most important free hotel amenities. So we’ll give up our phones, but not our laptops? Read on for more interesting 2015 travel trends & start planning your family vacations!

2015 Travel Trends to Help With Planning Family Vacations

A Spike in Leisure Travel
As the economy continues to improve, Americans are planning to spend eight percent more on leisure travel, and five percent more per trip than they did in 2014. Millennial leisure travel spending will increase by six percent, spending for families traveling with children will increase by five percent, and senior spending will increase by 33 percent. However, leisure travelers are still searching for the best deals, as 62 percent said the most influential factor when selecting a leisure travel destination was budget. Despite being budget conscious, American travelers are willing to splurge for unique travel experiences, including “Set Jetting” (visiting a destination seen in a movie) and “Culinary Tourism” (food-inspired travel), which are projected to increase 18 percent and 30 percent, respectively, compared to 2014.

U.S. Go-To Events and Destinations in 2015
When asked which event they’d most like to attend in 2015, Mardi Gras in New Orleans (25 percent) ranked just ahead of the Cherry Blossom Festival (24 percent) and Superbowl XLVII (23 percent). When asked which iconic American tourist attraction they’d most like to visit in 2015, 24 percent of Americans would visit the western national parks.

U.S. Travelers Going Abroad
Furthermore, 11 percent of participants say there are planning to visit Europe in 2015. As the main desire for their trip, over half want to visit Europe’s historical sights and almost 40 percent would like to immerse themselves in European culture. The most popular European cities Americans would like to visit are London, followed by Rome and Paris.

Other findings from the survey include:

  • Over 40 percent of American travelers regularly stay at mid-price hotels, like Comfort Inn, when traveling for leisure, spending an average of $115.94 per night.
  • July is the preferred month for leisure travel.
  • Most Americans would prefer driving to flying for leisure travel in 2015.
  • While 60 percent of American travelers are planning a trip with their spouse or partner in 2015, half would rather stay home than take a vacation with Ben Affleck, Derek Jeter, Kim Kardashian, Oprah Winfrey or Warren Buffett.

Do you find any of these 2015 travel trends surprising? Will they change the way you plan your family vacations?

6 thoughts on “2015 Travel Trends to Help You Plan Family Vacations”

  1. I’d like to go to Mardi Gras someday, but not until the kids are old enough to be on their own. No way I’m exposing them to all of that debauchery! ;)

  2. Those are all really interesting travel statistics! I used to travel a lot before kids, and now my children are getting to be a good age for traveling, so it is nice to know what the travel trends are.

  3. We still have to plan our travel for 2015. Lately we have been using a lot of it to visit my father-in-law in Florida, but we are hoping for at least one “fun” trip this year too!

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