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Many people have fond memories of these summer vacations in their youth – hanging out on the beach with siblings, getting told by Dad to be quiet or he’ll pull the auto over, and just relishing the time with family and friends. But is it still a similar With most colleges now out for the year and Fourth of July round the corner, summer travel is decided to kick into high gear for this season. But actual plans for travel are mixed; while the share of american citizens indicating they plan on taking a minimum of one leisure trip this summer (64%) is up slightly from 2012 (60%), there are indications that more wish to accomplish that but feel held back.

While just over two in five (43%) say that the economy has no impact on their travel plans, one-third of american citizens (34%) indicate that their outlook at the U.S. economy makes them less more likely to travel over the summer. It is down slightly from 2012, when 36% said they’d be less more likely to travel as a result of the economy.

These are a number of the findings from a Harris Poll of two,276 U.S. adults (aged 18 and older) surveyed online from March 13-18, 2013 by Harris Interactive. (Full findings and knowledge tables available here)

Nearly two-thirds (64%) of american citizens plan on taking at the least one leisure trip from May through October, up from 60% in 2012. Compared, the 17% of usa citizens anticipating a number of work trips within that very same timespan is down slightly from 2010 and 2012 (19% each) and considerably from 2009 (23%).

Men are much more likely than women to anticipate at the least one leisure trip (68% men, 61%), and are greater than twice as prone to anticipate a number of work journeys (24%-11%).

Additionally, those living in households with children under 18 are significantly much more likely than those without to be anticipating both a number of leisure trips (69%-62%) and a number of work journeys (26%-14%).

Vacationers (those expecting to take a number of leisure trips over the summer) anticipate spending a standard of $1,665 for summer leisure travel overall; business travelers anticipate spending $2,231 on average.

Beachy Keen
When asked which kind of destination they plan on visiting during their leisure travel this summer, the top percentage of vacationers (38%) say they’ll be hitting a beach location, followed by downtown/center of a city (27%), countryside/rural (23%) and national/state park (23%). Roughly two in ten are planning a theme park trip (21%), mountain location excursion (19%), suburban/at the fringe of an enormous or small city (19%), or a leisure/discovery vacation (17%), while one in ten plan on taking a cruise (10%) or visiting a world location (9%).

Younger vacationers (Echo Boomers and Gen Xers) are much more likely than their older counterparts (Baby Boomers and Matures) to be planning either a beach vacation (45% Echo Boomers, 47% Gen Xers, 32% Baby Boomers, 27% Matures) or a theme park trip (31%, 25%, 14% and six%, respectively).
Men appear more interested in the outside, as they’re much more likely than women to be planning a visit to a countrywide or state park (28% men, 17% women) or a mountain location (24% men, 14% women).

Those in households with children under 18 are much more likely than those without to be planning beach (47% with, 34% without), theme park (35% with, 13% without) and cruise (15% with, 7% without) vacations, while those without usually tend to be planning trips to suburban destinations (21% without, 14% with).
Urbanites are significantly much more likely than either their suburban or rural counterparts to be planning international leisure travel for the summer (15% urban, 8% suburban, 4% rural).