U.S. Consumers Lead in Cruise Spending, Summer Travel Spend Is Up, & Other Travel Trends

Two new reports are revealing what’s on travelers minds this year, with one survey looking at people’s perceptions and intentions towards experiential entertainment activities (travel included) and the other parsing travel insurance policies to find out what’s hot.

Global Media & Entertainment Pulse Poll (cruises and more)

A new survey by EY, a multinational professional services network, has found that Americans lead the world when it comes to cruise spending, with U.S. consumers more likely than global consumers to spend more than $1,000 on cruises.

Overall, 74% of U.S. consumers spent more than $1,000 on a cruise, while only 61% globally spent that much. With that said, only 15% of approximately 4,000 people interviewed said they’d purchased a cruise in the past year.

Among those who purchased cruises in the past year, about half (49% on a global basis) also purchased upgrades or premium options and 86% who upgraded said the premium option met or exceeded their expectations.

Among those purchasing cruises, Gen Z and Millennial travelers were the most likely to seek out curated, tech-forward, and wellness driven perks when cruising. These travelers prioritize gamified perks, app-based experiences, and status rewards.

Gen Z consumers were also the largest group (66%) to say they plan to buy fast and/or priority passes to theme parks in the coming year, compared to 59% of all consumers.

The inaugural Global Media & Entertainment Pulse Poll surveyed consumers on their perceptions (April 2025), attitudes, and intentions towards experiential entertainment activities such as cruises, theme parks, local entertainment, sporting events, live entertainment, casinos, and resorts.

Another highlight of the survey findings that travel advisors might want to pay attention to is that Gen Z and Millennials are the most likely to build entire trips around events. In the U.S. 52% of consumers (of all ages) traveled for entertainment last year.

2025 Summer Travel Insights

IMG, a travel insurance services company, reviewed the itineraries of 23,000 customers with travel plans between June 1 and August 31, 2025, and found that summer travelers are planning on – or already have – upping their budgets over last year, with a 13% increase in the average insured trip cost. Travelers are also possibly feeling spooked by current economic and political uncertainty, with a more than 20% increase in travel protection plan purchases this summer versus last summer.

One possible reason for the increase in trip costs is the length of trips, which for summer 2025 averages 10 days – one day longer than the average for summer 2024.

An analysis of the documents also revealed that the five international destinations for U.S. travelers this summer will be Mexico, Canada, the U.K., Italy, and the Dominican Republic.