What
According to the U.S. Travel Association’s latest Travel Trends Index (TTI), which measures the direction and pace of travel volume to and within the U.S. monthly, travel grew 4 percent year over year in June, marking the industry’s 102nd straight month of overall expansion. However, travel association economists note that growth of international inbound travel to the U.S. is not keeping pace with the global long-haul travel boom.
Why It Matters
The TTI shows the strength of domestic travel. Based on this index, advisors should not shy away from suggesting a closer-to-home vacation to clients this year.
Fast Facts
- Most notable in the TTI is the strength of domestic business and leisure travel, buoyed by near-historic highs in consumer confidence and growth in forward-looking bookings and searches. According to the Leading Travel Index, domestic travel is expected to increase by approximately 2.6 percent in the next six months.
- Despite solid economic activity bolstering both domestic and international travel through the first half of the year, the rate of growth is not brisk enough to help the U.S. regain its slipping share of the global travel market.
- The TTI is prepared for U.S. Travel by the research firm Oxford Economics. The TTI is based on public and private sector source data which are subject to revision by the source agency. The TTI draws from: advance search and bookings data from ADARA and nSight; airline bookings data from the Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC); IATA, OAG and other tabulations of international inbound travel to the U.S.; and hotel room demand data from STR.
What They Are Saying
“For the first time in the history of the Travel Trends Index, both the business and leisure segments of domestic travel expanded every month during the first half of the year,” said David Huether, senior vice president for Research for the U.S. Travel Association. “However, rising oil prices and trade uncertainty — particularly with regard to tariffs — have the potential to dampen consumer confidence.”
The Details
U.S. Travel Association
www.ustravel.org
