According to the Travel Industry Association of America's (TIA) Summer 2003 forecast, Florida and California are the states that travelers would most like to visit this summer. The survey also found that during June, July and August 2003, Americans will likely do 2.5% more traveling than they did last summer with 275.4 million leisure trips planned this season. One trip is defined as a single trip taken by one person going 50 miles or more away from home, one way.

"The rather dramatic shifts that Americans have made in their travel preferences in the past 20 months, such as more driving trips, closer-to-home travel and more rural destinations are still apparent," says Dr. Suzanne Cook, senior vice president of research and technology for TIA. "While we expect these trends to remain strong this summer, they may not be as exaggerated as we saw last year, reflecting Americans' gradual return to their more traditional travel patterns."

Survey participants revealed the summer spots that they would most like to travel to, and the top 10 destinations are:

· Florida 35%
· California 35%
· New York 16%
· Texas 13%
· Nevada 12%
· Arizona 10%
· Hawaii 10%
· Colorado 10%
· Washington, DC 7%
· Tennessee 6%

Air travel will increase about 1% this summer, chiefly because of leisure travelers. Auto travel will remain more robust than air travel, rising by more than 2%. RV travel will continue to be very popular this summer.

Americans anticipate that they will vacation an average of 7.9 nights on their lengthiest leisure trip, slightly below last year. Travelers are still penny-pinching, budgeting an average of $1,055 for their longest pleasure trip this summer, a figure that's flat from summer 2002 but 9% less than the 2001 budget of $1,172.

Here are other interesting findings from the survey, which polled a representative sample of 1,000 U.S. adult travelers via telephone:

· Most Americans (72%) will head out of their home state on their longest summer trip while more than one-quarter (26%) will remain in-state during their lengthiest summer trip.

· More travelers (43%) will be taking their children on their longest summer trip this year, up from 31% in 2002. Slightly more Americans (6%) will have their grandchildren in tow, compared to 4% last summer.

· Most Americans (65%) will be vacationing with their spouses. Travelers also intend to bring along their friends (25%), other family members (22%) and groups (14%). Ten percent will go on vacation with their parents while 6% will go solo.

· The top 3 summer activities are taking scenic drives, going to the beach, and visiting friends and relatives. Hitting the road to catch sight of picturesque settings proved to be the most popular activity of all, with 70% of travelers including it in their summer plans. Heading to the beach or lake tied with seeing friends and relatives as the second most popular summer pursuit, each planned by 67% of respondents.

· Travelers also have a host of other activities on their slate for the summer, including going to cities/urban areas (60%), traveling to small towns/rural areas (59%), visiting national parks or forests (49%), seeing historic sites (45%), traveling close to home (37%), camping, hiking or climbing (36%), exploring museums (35%), fishing (34%), and going to theme parks (33%).

· One-third intend to see a performing arts event, such as a concert or play, and 26% plan on going to a cultural event, such as an ethnic festival or heritage activity. One-quarter say they will attend a family reunion, while 22% plan to visit a gambling casino and 19% will relax in an all-inclusive resort. Ten percent have plans to go on a cruise.

Source: Summer Travel Season Will Start Off Slow and Gain Momentum; 2.5% Increase Expected By End
Travel Industry Association of America
http://www.tia.org/Press/pressrec.asp?Item=274