Ann Arbor Portrait of American Travelers

Spring 2024

Demographics

  • 23% of total respondents were interested in visiting Ann Arbor. This is up 1% from the last survey. This amounts to 891 people.
    • Almost 2/3 of these rated Ann Arbor as a 4 in terms of their interest. The 5s were highest among recreational cannabis users, environmentally conscious travelers, millennials, and Gen Z. Though none of these were above 40%
  • In terms of the words and phrases used to describe themselves, we continued to track three active leisure personas: environmentally conscious, recreational cannabis users, and outdoor adventurers who are interested in visiting Ann Arbor
    • Environmentally conscious: All generations are below 30% of being self-described this way.
    • Outdoor adventurer: Our highest group for this was boomers at 44%, and then it decreased with each generation.
    • Recreational cannabis users: This group also scored almost 2/3 of being foodies too which tracks.
  • Generationally, we continue to be heavily driven by Millennials (47%), followed by Gen X (20%), Gen Z (17%), and Boomers (15%).
    • Gen Z and Boomers are both continuing to hold around the same percentage. Millennials did increase in this one and Gen X decreased, albeit they were minimal changes.
    • Millennials with children in the household were a large segment of our interested population.
  • Our interested traveler continues to be 8 years younger than the active leisure audience average. Our prospect’s mean age is 40.6, while the non-interested is 51.8, continuing to show we do well with younger audiences.
    • This is backed up by high interest levels in the 18-34 age group (40%), but within this age group it is being largely carried by 25-34 year olds.
    • We actually did well in the 35-54 group as well (40%), but this was largely driven by 35-44 year olds. 55% of our interested travelers were between 25-44, which makes sense given the other stats. These groups also are where we see the most interest with having kids in the household.
  • The Ann Arbor Prospect in this version continued to skew more toward Males (57% of respondents). They scored Ann Arbor interest at 9% higher than non-interested.
  • When asked if they identify as having a disability, Ann Arbor prospects were  10% higher than the national average in saying they identify as having one.

Affordability/Spending

  • Our prospect’s average spend in the next 12 months on overnight leisure travel continues to be below the national average by about 500 dollars.
    • The largest group for us, Millennials, did see their average spending expectation on this survey increase by close to $1,000 compared to the last survey.
    • As with other surveys, the amount of spend increases by generation, and us not having a strong showing with boomers does impact the total average spend as their spend is the highest.
  • When considering personal finances on the ability to take a vacation, Ann Arbor prospects again score 15% higher than the active leisure audience average in being more able. This again is being driven by millennials, but Gen X and Boomers reporting their ability is about the same.
  • When asked about spending on transportation, lodging, food, and entertainment this gets more interesting. While more affordable (41%) does score 20% higher than the national average, less affordable is at 33% here for our prospects.
    • The outdoor adventurers were much more likely to say travel is less affordable (46%) than the other groups.
    • We are largely saved here because of the scores amongst our prospective millennials and Gen Z continuing to say travel is more affordable at far higher rates than Gen X and Boomers. This is also likely why people with children also think this.
    • Gen X and Boomers continue to say travel is LESS affordable.
  • Concerns about the price of gas spiked in the winter survey, but we see it did come back down to its previous levels in this survey. Our prospective travelers do continue to be split on the amount of impact, but the no impact score increased 10 points compared to the winter.
  • Inflationary pressures continues to be monitored especially during an election year. On this survey, our prospects scored extreme impact at the lowest they have scored it and they scored no impact at the highest they have. We do see a higher expected spend from our prospects in this survey, but it could also be a symptom of people having adjusted to different costs versus when they previously considered inflation.
  • Again, when asked directly if they expected to spend more on travel, this time in relation to the past two years, our prospects overwhelmingly said yes, they do. Again this is especially true of millennials, but also Gen Z and Gen X scored this at 67%, and children in household respondents at 83%.
    • They largely just expect things to cost more, but our prospects also are more likely than the national average to say they just have more money to spend.

Impacting Travel

  • Ann Arbor prospects continue to score high in their interest in taking a vacation this year compared to last year. Our more interested score is 15% higher than the total leisure audience.
    • This was true across all generations and traveler profiles, but especially amongst Gen Z (78%), Millennials (77%), and Children in the household (80%)
  • Ann Arbor prospects do continue to score might higher in terms of having the time to take a vacation, scoring 19% higher in the more able than the active leisure audience.
    • This more able is significantly being driven by millennials, but Gen X and Boomers scored very well when combining more able or staying the same.
  • Our prospects continue to believe safety has improved at a much higher rate than the national average. This is again being driven by millennials and Gen Z.
  • Concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic continue to be a concern to our travelers, with 65% saying it will have at least some impact. The national leisure audience scores this only at 51%
  • Despite saying their ability to travel when it came to personal finance has improved, Ann Arbor prospects do continue to say concerns about their personal finances/job security are having an extreme impact at a higher rate. This is most seen in Gen Z and Millennials, which does make sense given where they would be in career stage.
    • This also makes sense why availability of great travel deals is also important.

Motivators to Travel

  • Our prospects continue to be largely motivated by the desire to get away and unplug, spending time with those they are traveling with, and exploring nature and the outdoors.
    • Our prospects are far more likely to show interest in exploring nature and the outdoors and experiencing new cultures and cuisines than the national average.
    • Each generation largely follows the same trajectory of ranking those as being their key motivators
  • When asked about destination attributes influencing selection:
    • Our largest influencers continue to be beautiful scenery, food and drink scene, safety, and outdoor activities.
      • Beautiful scenery was largely driven by Boomers at (90%)

Information Sources

  • When planning for travel, our prospects are most likely to be using friends and family (50%), TV shows (32%), and travel review websites (31%)
  • Key areas where prospects scored higher than the national average:
    • Television shows (32% vs 25%)
    • Online travel agencies (27% vs 24%)
    •  Streaming TV services (30% vs 23%)
    • Social posts from destinations (29% vs 23%)
    • Influencers (21% vs 16%)
  • When doing research on destination, including features/pricing:
    • Prospects are much less likely to use friends and family.
    • They are more influenced than the national survey by social media advertising, social posts from the destinations
    • Streaming
  • On destination websites, when asked about content/features that are valuable:
    • Prospects scored pricing, ratings, user-generated photos, and photos of the destination
    • Areas our prospects showed significant differences from national audience:
      • Pricing and Ratings information were our top two but they did lag behind the national average.
      • User-generated reviews and photos scored 11pts higher than the national average, personalized travel recommendations scored 12% higher, itinerary planner scored 16% higher, information about ways to lessen environmental impact scored 22pts higher,
    • The Millennials, by far our biggest market, scored highest in:
      • Pricing for accommodations, user-generated reviews, attraction or experience passes, video testimonials, and ways to lessen economic impact.
  • Ann Arbor prospects are far more likely to trust online reviews over the opinions of friends and family. This is especially true of homes with children in the household, and Millennials.
    • Similarly, they’re more likely to trust fellow travelers reviews more.
    • They also are more likely to agree they trust destination websites to have most reliable information, especially being led by Millennials and Gen X.

Sustainability

  • Our prospects care significantly more about travel service providers focus on sustainability and environment. They scores it 24% higher as impacting than the national average, again being driven by Gen Z and Millennials.
  • Prospects are much more likely to be willing to pay more if they believe the service provider demonstrates environmental responsibility (74%). This is largely driven by younger generations with both Millennials and Gen Z at 85%