By Janeen Christoff

TravelPulse

The American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA) tracks perceptions of American travelers, key indicators of future travel planning and where they are spending with its annual “How America Travels” study.

This year’s results reveal that many Americans are planning to travel this season, and that both consumers and travel advisors are optimistic about finances and their businesses for the coming year.

You wouldn’t know that there is talk of a recession when talking to travel advisors, half of whom think their business is going to be better next year than it is this year.

Consumers aren’t as sure as travel advisors and men are definitely more confident than women. Half of the men surveyed feel the economy will be better 12 months from now, compared to 31% of women. Additionally, men will spend an average of $2,377 on average on a trip while women will spend just $1,542, according to the study. Men also plan to take more trips than women (2.6% vs. 2.0%).

Overall, travelers anticipate spending $6,772 on travel in 2020, a 10% increase over the past 12 months.

Those who use a travel advisor are expecting to spend more on travel in the coming year and take more trips. Those using an advisor say they will spend $4,015 versus $1,687 for those who book themselves. Those who use a travel advisor are also more likely to go overseas and visit more exotic locales.

Married people will also spend more on travel, and Gen-X will spend more than both millennials and boomers.

More travelers are looking to travel within the U.S. in 2020 and fewer plan to travel abroad, according to ASTA’s research.

The top concern for travelers is personal safety and not having enough money (52%), 49% fear crime, 46% are worried about terrorism and 46% say they are concerned about severe weather and natural disasters.

The top destinations revealed by the survey are Japan (54%), the U.K. (49%), the Bahamas (49%), Italy (47%), France (45%), China (42%), Thailand (36%), Puerto Rico (29%) and Costa Rica (28%).