You can learn a lot about people from their travel habits generally and their attitudes toward winter travel in particular. After all, winter travel can be especially trying, on both our patience and our wallets. To get a better sense of how U.S. consumers are feeling about their ability to get away heading into the most expensive time of the year, WalletHub conducted a nationally representative online survey.
Key Stats
- Inflated Travel Costs: 54% of people say inflation will affect their winter travel plans.
- Weaker Dollar Concerns: 51% of Americans believe a weaker dollar will affect their winter travel plans.
- Bigger Travel Bills: 25% of Americans say they will spend more on winter travel this year than last year.
- Lingering Travel Debt: Nearly 1 in 4 Americans are still carrying debt from traveling last winter.
- Credit Card Savings: 23% of people plan to apply for a new credit card to save on travel this winter.
- Filling Budget Gaps With Rewards: 55% of Americans plan to redeem credit card rewards to help with their winter holiday spending.
- Budgeting Apps for Travel: Nearly 1 in 3 people say they’re going to use a budgeting app to plan for their next vacation.
Full Survey & Responses
| Will inflation affect your winter travel plans? | |
|---|---|
| Yes | 54% |
| No | 46% |
| How will your winter travel spending compare to last year? | |
| Same | 58% |
| More | 25% |
| Less | 17% |
| Do you plan to apply for a new credit card to save on travel this winter? | |
| No | 77% |
| Yes | 23% |
| Do you plan to redeem credit card rewards to help with your winter holiday spending? | |
| Yes | 55% |
| No | 45% |
| Is winter travel worth going into debt for? | |
| No | 79% |
| Yes | 21% |
| Are you still carrying debt from traveling last winter? | |
| No | 77% |
| Yes | 23% |
| What is your stance on travel insurance? | |
| Nice to have | 46% |
| Not worth it | 29% |
| Waste of money | 15% |
| Necessity | 10% |
| Is winter travel a better value than summer travel? | |
| No | 51% |
| Yes | 49% |
| The U.S. dollar has lost more than 10% of its value since early 2025. Will a weaker dollar affect your winter travel plans? | |
| Yes | 51% |
| No | 49% |
| Are you going to use a budgeting app to plan for your next vacation? | |
| No | 69% |
| Yes | 31% |
Note: Percentages may not total 100% due to rounding.
Survey Methodology
This report reflects the results of a nationally representative online survey of 200 respondents. After we collected all responses, we normalized the data by age, gender and income so the sample would reflect U.S. demographics.
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