Choice Hotels Reveals US Consumers Will Increase Travel Spending in 2017

LONDON. 19 JANUARY 2017. Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE:CHH), one of the world's leading hotel companies, has released its annual traveller survey capturing the latest insights from U.S. consumers. This year’s survey reveals Americans will increase travel spending in 2017, and identifies the top European destinations.

Europe-bound

28% of those surveyed say they will be heading to Europe in 2017, with 72% saying it’s a possibility. Reasons for doing so include 75% wanting to go sightseeing, 43% wishing to be immersed in European culture and another 42% wanting to experience Europe’s food and wine. Just under a quarter (23%) wanted to visit family and friends. When they arrive, 44% will be staying for one week, while another 44% will be staying for longer.

The most popular European city destination for respondents is Paris, followed by London and then Rome.

Britain leaving the European Union will have little impact on US consumers travelling to Europe, with 45% saying their travel plans will go ahead regardless and only 8% saying that European travel now no longer appealed. The weakening of the British pound as a result of the Brexit decision was viewed favourably by U.S. consumers, with 73% saying it makes the UK a more attractive place to visit with more money to spend.

Commenting on the findings, Choice’s Mark Pearce, senior vice president, international division: “I’m thrilled that Paris is the top European spot for U.S. travellers, a city that is very much open for business. London clearly also has great appeal, perhaps more so than ever because of the favourable exchange rate for those with U.S. dollars to spend. Wherever US travellers decide to visit, we’ve got nearly 500 European hotels for them to stay in ranging from upscale and boutique to budget, capital city locations to seaside resorts, and as geographically diverse from the Arctic Circle to the Turkish coast.”

Other findings include:

Americans are too busy to travel more often but plan to spend more.

• oGiven busy schedules, Americans say they’ll take three trips in 2017, in line with 2016. One in five listed ‘my schedule was just too busy’ as a reason for not traveling more over the past 12 months, a 144-percent increase over the year prior.

oLeisure/personal travel budgets are up 42 percent over 2016, from $3,572 to $5,063, approximately 4,850 euros.

International travel identified as hot spots.

oWhen asked to identify their dream international trip, Australia (63%) ranks ahead of South America (38%) and Cuba (27%) when it comes to preferred international destinations.

In exchange for an all-expense paid trip to their dream destination, Americans would give up a surprising number of events or goods:

oOver half of Americans (57%) would give up their daily coffee.

oMore than half would forego all holiday gifts.

oNearly 1 in 4 Americans (23%) would miss a child’s birthday or their best friend’s wedding (24%).

In an interesting tidbit, nearly 4 in 10 (39%) Americans would journey to a destination for a first date.

The Choice Hotels 2017 Travel Forecast was conducted by Newlio (www.Newlio.com) among a nationally representative sample of 1070 US adults who are planning to take one or more overnight leisure or personal trips in 2017, sourced by an email invitation to take an online survey.