Summer is the busiest travel season of the year. But even though the pandemic is over, the kids are out of school and the days are long and warm, more than one in four Americans won't be going anywhere this year.
A new GBR survey of more than 1,000 adults found that 28% of the country don't have plans to travel this summer. Some simply don't have the desire, but for many others, the choice was made for them by circumstances beyond their control:
Unsurprisingly, inflation is the chief culprit behind 2023 summer vacations that are doomed not to happen. The largest percentage of respondents, more than 41%, cited high living costs as the primary obstacle to traveling.
The No. 2 biggest reason for staying home this summer was the ever-rising cost of travel, which more than 27% cited as their chief obstacle. Last year's $5,383 trip to Canada costs $8,519 this summer, and a trip to Mexico that cost $3,199 in 2022 will run you $4,244 this year.
People think that travel is more expensive than it actually is, when in reality it is all about where you choose to spend your money. There are so many destinations where you will spend less money than normal, like the Caribbean.
About 15% of respondents said travel would conflict with work obligations, 10% simply don't like to travel and 6% cited other reasons, some of which likely include the stress involved with vacation planning.
The pandemic increased isolation. Many people who finally have the ability to travel might be realizing that they have no one willing to join them. Others feel shackled to their pets. Bringing them along makes vacations more expensive and constrained, and leaving them at home comes with different stresses and costs.