It’s a very good time to be in the U.S. travel industry, with summer forecasts looking sunny--by every measure. Here’s what you need to know about the summer travel season to make successful decisions for your business.

1. The Changing
Business of
Summer Travel
in the
United States
It’s a very good time to be in the U.S. travel
industry, with summer forecasts looking
sunny -- by every measure. Here’s what
you need to know about the summer travel
season to make successful decisions for
your business.
SKIFT REPORT #19
2014
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3. Table of contents
About Skift
Skift is a travel intel-
ligence company that
services to professionals
in travel and professional
travelers, to help them
make smart decisions
about travel.
Skift is the business of
travel.
Visit skift.com for more.
Executive Summary 3
Introduction 4
8
8
Road Trip Factors 9
Value Drives Decisions 10
Experiential Content 12
13
Alternative Destinations 14
Traveler Demographics 16
16
Catering to Families 17
Insights and Strategies 18
About Skift 19
The Changing Business of Summer Travel in the United States SKIFT REPORT #19 2014
7

4. The key summer travel season has arrived, bringing with it the
promise of robust revenue and increased guest traffic for travel and
tourism businesses.
Projections and surveys indicate the 2014 summer travel season
will be a banner year for revenue, volume and traveler optimism.
It’s a crucial time to capitalize on the travel trends that have been
observed in the past six to 12 months, as the majority of American
adults plan to take a leisure trip during the summer travel season.
• 88 percent of Americans plan to take a summer vacation this
year, up 11 percent year-over-year, with more than half of trave-
lers using reward points to book hotel and airfare, according to
Orbitz.com survey data.
• Consumers expect to pay $1,246 per person on average, up
9 percent from last year, according to the American Express
Spending & Saving Tracker.
• Hotel revenue per available room increases are being attributed
to rate bumps, rather than occupancy gains, indicating pricing
power in many U.S. markets.
Rather than driving demand based on pricing, travel and tourism
businesses are able to compete on a more sophisticated level of
marketing to capture the summer dollars. Today’s traveler has more
financial confidence, but wants value.
Executive summary
The Changing Business of Summer Travel in the United States SKIFT REPORT #19 2014
3