As the season for Spring Break approaches, Vacasa teamed up with Allison + Partners to see how many Americans are planning a trip, where they are heading and what’s motivating their vacation plans. The survey findings, released in Vacasa’s 2022 Spring Travel Trends report, unearthed that travel is booming this season—particularly for remote workers, millennials and parents—and that more people are planning to travel specifically for Spring Break 2022 compared to last year.
Vacasa also analyzed search data to reveal the most popular destinations for vacation rentals this March, including Destin and Key West (shown above), FL, and Gulf Shores, AL, among other beach locales. Nearly one-third of travelers are booking vacation rentals for their spring getaways because of value for money (65%) and/or access to a full kitchen (56%), according to the survey results. Nearly half (49%) of parents of young children say they’re opting for a vacation home as their lodging of choice.
Here’s are some of the travel trends expected for the spring:
- More than half (56%) of Americans are planning a trip this spring and 37% are planning to travel during Spring Break specifically—an increase from the 29% who were traveling for Spring Break 2021.
- The likelihood of travel is even higher for hybrid workers (86%), millennials (75%) and parents (63%), who are most likely to be packing their bags in the months to come.
- While one’s partner and/or kid(s) are still the go-to spring travel companions, the number of people planning to vacation with friends jumped from 16% in 2021 to 23% this year.
- It’s near-even though on what motivates people most when it comes to travel: 32% of respondents said where they’re going, while 28% said who they’re going with. But, even so, family and friend events like reunions and birthdays were the activities most likely to encourage a trip in 2022 (45% and 32%, respectively).
- American travelers are mostly staying planted on U.S. soil, with 75% planning a domestic trip, 23% springing for a staycation and 18% heading international—which is near-even with how many people planned to travel abroad in summer 2019.
- Of those planning to travel this spring, 75% say they plan to travel more frequently in 2022 than they did in 2021.
For the survey, Allison+Partners Research + Insights queried 1,000 individuals over the age of 18 in the U.S.