Research Round-Up: Domestic Searches, Lodging Performance on the Rise

Each month, the U.S. Travel Association sends its members the U.S. Travel Outlook, which provides insight into the current state of the economy and related industry trends, plus other relevant data from the travel and tourism sector.

Here are some of April 2018’s most compelling findings from the U.S. Travel research team. 

Majority of Americans Looking to Travel Want to Stay in the U.S.

Americans are keen to travel domestically: according to the U.S. Travel Barometer, 84 percent of U.S. residents searching for lodging in March were looking within the U.S. Interest in domestic travel is up from this time last year, with 76 percent of Americans searching for lodging in March 2017 looking within the U.S. Europe was much more of a draw in March of last year with the U.K., France and Spain capturing a greater share of domestic search than March 2018.

The Far West and the Southeast tied to capture the greatest share of the domestic search market, with both regions representing 29 percent of domestic searches. The Far West saw an increase in its share of the domestic search market from its March 2017 share of 24 percent. 

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Domestic Air Travel Increased from Last Year

In January 2018, more than 73 million passengers flew on flights with at least one point of contact in the U.S., which is a two percent increase from January 2017. There was also good news for domestic air travel: of those 73 million passengers, nearly 56 million were domestic passengers, which is a three percent increase from January 2017.

However, international passengers decreased slightly from January 2017 numbers, falling less than one percent to 17.5 million. 

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Hotel Demand on the Rise

Due to increased domestic leisure travel and group business travel, hotel demand has increased, as well. The U.S. hotel industry saw small but positive growth in February 2018. Occupancy, average daily rate and revenue per room available increased compared to February of last year.

March data indicates lodging metrics will remain strong with average daily rate up three percent from March 2017, while revenue per room increased by nearly four percent. 

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A deeper dive into the data and insights available in the April 2018 U.S. Travel Outlook—which includes the latest data on employment, transportation, inflation, consumer confidence and more—is online here.

U.S. Travel Association members receive the full U.S. Travel Outlook, plus a myriad of other cutting-edge research reports with information relevant to the travel industry. Learn more about the benefits of becoming a member here—or simply continue to enjoy a small taste of U.S. Travel’s research insight each month here, with the Research Round-Up.