Research Finds Holiday Travel Budgets Are Down; Advisors Unaffected

A new study of U.S. travelers by Deloitte has found that while more Americans plan to travel this holiday season, their budgets are more constrained than in previous years.

More than half of survey respondents (54%) said they intend to travel between Thanksgiving and mid-January. The average budget for these trips is $2,334, down significantly – 18% – from 2024. Sadly, 38% said they cannot afford to travel at all this year.

“Many Americans are planning fewer flights and hotel stays, with tighter wallets in tow,” said Kate Ferrara, vice chair and U.S. transportation, hospitality and services sector leader for Deloitte. “Although our survey found that more consumers plan to travel to be with loved ones, they are hesitant to spend on extending and upgrading their trips.”

Not all travelers are planning to cut back, though the number of travelers who said they plan to spend more this holiday season (19%) is down 9 percentage points compared to last year. Of those planning to spend more, one in five said it is because they have not taken a big trip recently and have more money to spend.

Among those planning to spend more this season, splurging on more luxurious lodging is down, however – 36% versus 44% in 2024.

Younger travelers are the hardest hit, with Gen Z travelers planning to reduce their holiday budgets by 31% year-over-year. (Gen Z and Millennials are expected to make up half of the holiday traveling public this year for the first time.)

Alternatively, Boomers are the only generation not planning to decrease their spend. Instead, they’re spending 4% more year-over-year.

The survey also found that travelers are scaling back on the number of trips they’re planning, as well as trip duration. Overall, survey respondents who plan to travel expect to take 1.83 trips this season, compared to 2.13 in 2024.

Of these respondents, high-income travelers (those making $100,00 or more per year) are the most affected. They plan to reduce their number of trips from 2.5 to 1.9, and 16% plan to significantly decrease their longest-trip budgets, up from 11% in 2024. Additionally, high-income travelers who said they feel worse about their finances this year are also planning on cutting their in-destination spent (37%) or opting for less luxurious lodging (35%).

Among all survey respondents, 28% said they plan to cut back on in-destination spend this year (versus 22% last year). This includes cutting back on tours and activities year-over-year, with participation in ticketed or public events expected to decline 9 percentage points on Americans’ longest trips, guided day trips down 8 percentage points, and attractions down 7 percentage points.

Additionally, 29% of surveyed travelers said they plan to drive instead of fly (versus 21% last year). In fact, less than half of surveyed travelers (47%) said they will take a flight on their longest trip of the season, down from 55% in 2024.

Among high-income earners, the decrease is even greater, with 53% saying they will take a domestic flight at some point during the holiday season, down from 63% last year.

This year’s “Holiday Travel Survey” is the fifth for Deloitte and while it finds that financial concerns among travelers are “casting a shadow over the season,” Host agencies that TMR spoke with said their travel agency and advisor members aren’t affected.

“We aren’t seeing any meaningful dip in holiday travel demand within the Avoya Network,” said Marc Kazlauskas, CEO of Avoya Travel. “As is typical in our business, most holiday travel was booked well in advance, and our advisors secured the bulk of those reservations last year. In fact, booking activity across the network has strengthened in recent months. While the increase isn’t isolated specifically to holiday travel, we’re certainly not experiencing a slowdown in overall sales. It’s also worth noting that Avoya advisors tend to book longer-lead, higher-value cruise and tour vacations, which are generally less affected by short-term shifts in travel budgets.”

Speaking specifically of luxury travelers, Cadence Travel’s founder and CEO Wendy Burk told TMR their members aren’t seeing any reduction in spend either.

“We’re not hearing feedback from our advisors that suggests festive season bookings are soft. On the contrary, we continue to see healthy spend on the luxury leisure side,” Burk said.