Summary
Wealthier households, earning over $100,000, are dominating holiday travel this year, making up 45% of travelers and over half of paid lodging customers, according to Deloitte.
Rising costs, including airfare and luxury accommodations, have priced out lower-income households, whose travel participation has declined.
Affluent travelers are driving demand for premium experiences, with high-end destinations seeing significant price increases. Meanwhile, budget-conscious travelers are cutting costs by staying with family or using credit to fund trips.
Inflation continues to strain travel budgets across income levels, with 29% of travelers expecting to take on debt.
It’s open season on consumers. Americans, born into consumerism, raised on consumerism, and soaked in the purifying propaganda of consumerism on a daily basis are confused. “Why I can no buy as much?”
Because (as a nation) we don’t delete Facebook, we don’t get off Xitter, we don’t stop watching TV ads, we don’t pirate media, and we do the same things we’ve always done - watch TV (or as the kids say, “looking at the Internet”). They’re just picking us off one service fee at a time.
The answer is simple and relatively easy, we just don’t wanna.