Vacation planning is shaped by more than destination choice. Time-off limits, financial pressure, research habits, travel style, and the desire for rest all affect whether people take a trip and how they arrange it. The figures below draw on Expedia’s Vacation Deprivation Report 2024, Booking.com Travel Predictions 2024, McKinsey’s State of Travel Survey 2024, Deloitte’s 2025 Holiday Travel Survey, and AAA survey and booking data.
Contents
- Time off and vacation deprivation
- How travelers plan and research
- Budgets, deals, and transportation
- Trip styles and destination priorities
- Generational and regional planning differences
- Sustainability, flexibility, and new experiences
Time off and vacation deprivation
Time available is one of the clearest constraints in vacation planning. Expedia’s Vacation Deprivation Report 2024 found that Americans receive 12 days off annually, the fewest among the surveyed countries. Japanese workers receive 11 days, while workers in France and Hong Kong take nearly a month off annually. The comparison helps explain why trip planning often begins with the calendar rather than a destination.
The same report found that 53% of Americans did not plan to use all their time off in 2024. U.S. vacation deprivation reached 65%, an 11-year high. Americans were also nearly twice as likely as the global average to go a year or more between vacations: 32% compared with 18% globally. Among Americans who did not use all their time off, 53% said life was too busy to plan or go on vacation, while 19% said they were saving their days for a big trip.
Country comparisons show different planning pressures:
| Country or region | Vacation planning statistic |
|---|---|
| United States | 65% vacation deprived; 12 days off annually |
| Japan | 53% vacation deprived; 11 days off annually |
| France | 69% vacation deprived; nearly a month off annually |
| Germany | 84% vacation deprived |
| Hong Kong | 15% planned to take more time off than allocated again in 2024 |
Japan’s vacation deprivation rate was 53%, the lowest in Expedia’s report, even though Japanese workers received 11 days off annually. Vacation frequency differed sharply: 32% of Japanese respondents vacationed monthly, compared with 5% of U.S. workers. Rest was also a stronger stated priority among Japanese travelers, at 84%, versus 61% of Americans.
France presents a different pattern. Thirty percent of French respondents spread their days off evenly throughout the year, yet France’s vacation deprivation rate was 69%, above the U.S. rate of 65%. In Expedia’s report, 93% of French workers said time off is a basic right, compared with 83% of U.S. workers. Another 94% of French workers said time off is critical to overall health and wellbeing, versus 86% of U.S. workers.
Germany had the highest vacation deprivation rate in the report, at 84%. At the same time, 77% of German travelers said they were determined to use all their time off in 2024, compared with 47% of U.S. travelers. These figures suggest that having leave available and converting it into a completed trip are separate planning challenges.
How travelers plan and research
The planning process can itself become a barrier. Expedia found that 53% of Americans feel overwhelmed by planning and booking. McKinsey’s State of Travel Survey 2024 found that 77% of respondents said the research phase is an effort to find good deals or save money. Research is therefore not only about inspiration; it is also a budgeting task.
Travel agents remain part of that process. Seventeen percent of McKinsey respondents used a travel agent to book a trip in the past year. Baby boomers showed a stronger preference for delegated planning: 44% valued having a travel agent book the entire experience, compared with 30% of other respondents. Mobile booking showed the reverse pattern. Forty-two percent of baby boomers used a mobile app to book transportation, compared with 71% of other respondents.
Social media is another planning influence. McKinsey found that 92% of younger travelers said their last trip was motivated in some way by social media. Deloitte’s 2025 Holiday Travel Survey found that more than half of Gen Z respondents use short-form social video for travel inspiration. Deloitte also reported that generative AI adoption for trip planning had jumped 1.5 times since 2024, led by millennials.
Booking.com Travel Predictions 2024 highlights a tension between planning and spontaneity. Fifty-five percent of travelers wanted to have no plans set in stone before traveling in 2024. Meanwhile, 52% were keen to book a surprise trip where the destination is unknown until arrival. Thirty-four percent were interested in traveling with strangers, and 56% preferred to venture off the beaten path.
Budgets, deals, and transportation
Cost is central to decisions about where to go and how to get there. Booking.com found that 48% of travelers wanted to visit destinations where the cost of living was less expensive than in their hometown. Forty-three percent planned to book an all-inclusive trip so they would know exactly how much they would spend. Another 50% intended to search for luxe-for-less copycat vacations closer to home to reduce costs.
McKinsey reported that U.S. travel spending rose 6% over a recent 12-month period, even after adjusting for inflation. Yet only 15% of respondents said they were trying to save money by reducing the number of trips they take. Low-cost airlines carried 35% of the world’s booked seats over a recent 12-month period, according to McKinsey citing OAG.
Deloitte’s 2025 survey points to more cautious holiday planning. Respondents planned an average of 1.83 holiday trips, down from 2.14 the previous year. Average planned holiday trip budgets were $2,334, down 18% from the prior year. Thirty-one percent said their financial situation was worse than a year earlier, including 19% of respondents earning $100,000 or more.
Among Deloitte’s cautious-class high earners, 80% planned to make travel cheaper, compared with 58% of more financially comfortable peers. Driving can also be a cost decision: 57% of travelers cited cost savings as a motivation for driving instead of flying in Deloitte’s holiday travel survey.
| Planning measure | Reported figure |
|---|---|
| Average planned holiday trips in Deloitte’s 2025 survey | 1.83 |
| Average planned holiday budget | $2,334 |
| Planned budget change from the prior year | 18% lower |
| Travelers citing cost savings for driving instead of flying | 57% |
| Booked seats carried by low-cost airlines in a recent 12-month period | 35% |
Trip styles and destination priorities
Travelers do not plan for one universal version of a vacation. In McKinsey’s survey, 23% of respondents were classified as sun-and-beach travelers, the largest archetype segment. Culture-and-authenticity seekers represented 18%, cost-conscious travelers 11%, premium travelers 12%, and adventure seekers 8%.
Destination priorities varied by market. Sixty-nine percent of Chinese respondents planned to visit a famous site next, compared with 20% of North American and European travelers. Fifty percent of Chinese travelers cited visiting attractions as their main reason for traveling, compared with 33% of travelers from other countries. In the United Arab Emirates, 56% said shopping options were an important destination factor, versus 35% of other respondents.
The wish to escape also differed across countries. Forty-five percent of German travelers placed importance on getting away from it all, compared with 40% of U.S. travelers and 38% of U.K. travelers. These differences can help independent travelers decide whether a destination should be evaluated for landmarks, shopping, relaxation, or distance from routine.
Booking.com found that 78% of global travelers felt more alive than ever when on vacation, while 68% believed they were the best version of themselves during their travels. Sixty-two percent enjoyed the anonymity of travel and the chance to recreate themselves, and 37% said they make up stories about their real life to people they meet on trips. Another 57% felt “main-character energy” on their travels; Booking.com reported the same 57% figure for travelers who feel that way on trips, while 62% said they enjoy creating alter egos on vacation.
Water is a particularly strong relaxation cue. Seventy-five percent of travelers agreed that being close to water instantly makes them feel more relaxed, and 36% were interested in water-centric vacations in 2024.
Generational and regional planning differences
Age affects both spending and the way a trip is assembled. McKinsey found that 29% of millennials and Gen Zers said they devote their income to travel, compared with 26% of Gen Xers and 25% of baby boomers. Millennials and Gen Zers took nearly five trips on average in 2023, compared with fewer than four for Gen Xers and baby boomers.
Experience spending also differed: 52% of Gen Z travelers said they splurge on experiences, compared with 29% of baby boomers. Gen Z travelers were more willing to accept inconvenience to lower fares: 37% would take a cheaper flight with inconvenient times or a stopover, versus 22% of baby boomers. Sixty-two percent of baby boomers were open to off-peak travel to cut costs.
Deloitte expected Gen Z and millennials to make up half of all U.S. holiday travelers in its 2025 survey. Millennials had an average planned holiday travel budget of $2,602. Deloitte also found that one in four surveyed travelers met its definition of a luxury traveler, and luxury travelers were twice as likely to book first-class flights. In McKinsey’s 2023 spending comparison, baby boomers spent three times more per traveler than Gen Zers.
Florida provides a regional example of concentrated seasonal planning. AAA’s Consumer Pulse Survey found that 84% of Floridians would travel in 2024, while 43% planned to take more vacations than the previous year. Twenty-nine percent planned a spring break vacation. For those spring break plans, 30% expected beach trips, 23% theme park trips, 15% ocean cruises, and 17% international vacations. AAA’s Florida survey included 400 respondents and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 points.
AAA booking data showed cruise bookings for March and April up 28% from the previous year, with cruises departing from South Florida up 60%. International spring break flight bookings were up 20%, and international spring break hotel bookings were up 37%, each compared with the previous year.
Sustainability, flexibility, and new experiences
Sustainability is becoming part of accommodation planning. Booking.com found that 65% of travelers wanted green spaces and plants brought indoors in vacation accommodations. Sixty percent wanted to see sustainability in action, while 53% looked for accommodation with wow-factor sustainability innovation.
Travel technology can connect those preferences with activities. Forty-seven percent were interested in sustainable travel apps that unlock rewards such as local experiences. Forty-four percent were interested in sustainable travel apps that unlock access to remote locations otherwise hard for tourists to reach.
The desire for flexibility extends to how trips are experienced. Booking.com reported that 56% preferred to venture off the beaten path, 55% wanted no plans set in stone, and 52% were interested in surprise trips. For travelers trying to balance structure with independence, these figures support leaving room for local discoveries while reserving the parts of a trip that matter most.
Booking.com surveyed 27,730 travelers across 33 countries and territories for its 2024 travel predictions. McKinsey’s figures describe survey respondents and, where stated, recent 12-month or 2023 behavior; Deloitte’s figures are forecasts and plans from its 2025 holiday travel survey. AAA’s booking comparisons measure changes against the prior year, while Expedia’s leave and deprivation figures refer to its Vacation Deprivation Report 2024.