It’s no secret that prices for everyday expenses are higher than most people are comfortable with, but those higher everyday costs seem to also be impacting once-every-so-often plans.
In fact, only 46 percent of U.S. adults are planning to travel this summer, and many of those not planning to do so cite affordability as the factor keeping them at home (65 percent), according to Bankrate’s 2025 Summer Travel Survey. With travel costs remaining high, you may find yourself wondering how people afford their getaways. It turns out that nearly 3 in 10 (29 percent) of prospective travelers are planning to take on debt to book trips, according to the survey.
“It’s not too late to plan a summer getaway. To save money, consider putting existing rewards points and miles to use. You can also sign up for a new credit card to earn a welcome bonus that can fund a free or discounted trip.” -Ted Rossman
Bankrate’s key insights on summer travel in 2024
Bankrate insight
- Fewer than half of Americans plan to travel for summer vacation this year. Just 46%plan to travel, 38% domestically and 15% internationally with some overlap between the two.
- Cost and lack of interest cause people to forgo travel. 65% percent of non-travelers say they can’t afford to travel and 23% cite a lack of interest in traveling currently. Not being able to take time off work and travel being too much of a hassle both came in at 16 percent.
- The expense of everyday life tops the reasons people can’t afford to travel. Nearly 7 in 10 people (68%) who can’t afford to travel say everyday life is too expensive, while 64% say travel is too expensive.
A quarter of U.S. adults aren’t planning any summer vacation this year
About half of U.S. adults (53 percent) are planning some type of summer vacation this year, whether a domestic trip, international getaway or staycation (respondents could select multiple options). While over half of Americans are planning a vacation, the new Bankrate survey found that just 46 percent plan to travel for their vacation, whether domestically (38 percent) or internationally (15 percent), with some overlap between the two. Perhaps in the face of higher prices for everyday items and travel costs, 1 in 10 Americans (10 percent) are sticking close to home with a staycation for at least some of their summer vacation plans (respondents could select multiple options).
A staycation can be a fun fallback option. Don’t let your vacation time go unused. If nothing else, take some time off to relax and recharge at home. Play tourist in your local area or just enjoy some downtime with family and friends.
— Ted Rossman, Bankrate Senior Industry Analyst
Even though staycations may be a more cost-efficient or simpler option, nearly a quarter (24 percent) of Americans are planning on skipping summer vacation altogether — with not even a staycation planned.
Uncertainty has also infiltrated summer vacation plans at a higher rate this year, as 23 percent of Americans say they don’t know or aren’t sure yet about a vacation this summer; that’s compared to just 18 percent who said the same in last year’s similar survey. But waiting too long to make plans might get expensive.
“When planning summer travel, it’s generally advised to book sooner rather than later,” advises Ted Rossman, Bankrate senior industry analyst. “It also pays to zig when others zag. For example, think about visiting a destination during its shoulder season or offseason. Take an early flight or a late flight or a connecting flight. Or fly midweek.”
It’s going to be expensive if you travel at the most convenient times on the most desirable days to the most popular destinations.
— Ted Rossman
Senior Bankrate Analyst
Domestic travel remains the most popular
As it did in last year’s similar survey, domestic travel emerged as the most popular summer travel choice, with about 4 in 10 adults (38 percent) choosing to travel within the United States this summer. The percentage of international travelers also remained flat at 15 percent (respondents could select multiple options). Whether it’s due to costs, air travel safety or another reason entirely, many people are choosing to travel close to home.
Linda Ta Yonemoto, a Certified Financial Education Instructor (CFEI), is keeping her summer vacations domestic this year with plans to visit Chicago as well as a “mini adventure” along the California coast. Local experiences align with what she wants out of a vacation but keeping it close to home also cuts back on costs.
“I am focused more on domestic or nearby travel, given that costs have risen with a lot of the [airline] carriers” Yonemoto says. “I’m not trying to sit on a 20-hour flight to get halfway around the world,” she adds, explaining she’d rather spend her time on local experiences and deciding what to do close to home than chasing the vacation spots trending on social media.
I think some folks fall for that Instagram lifestyle, when maybe your favorite thing to do is to go to a ballpark and catch a game, or take your family to a beautiful national park somewhere and go hiking.
— Linda Ta Yonemoto, a Certified Financial Education Instructor (CFEI)
Costs and lack of interest are keeping non-travelers at home
Domestic trips may be more wallet-friendly, but many Americans still cite cost as the top reason they’re not traveling this summer. More than 6 in 10 non-travelers (65 percent) say they can’t afford to travel this summer, while 23 percent say they’re skipping summer travel because they aren’t interested in traveling right now (respondents could choose more than one option). Other prominent reasons behind not traveling include:
- Can’t take time off work: 16 percent
- Too much of a hassle: 16 percent
- Worried about air travel safety: 15 percent
- My health and age: 15 percent
Non-traveling millennials (ages 29-44) and Gen Zers (ages 18-28) are the most likely groups to cite “I can’t take time off work” as a reason they aren’t traveling, at 24 percent and 21 percent, respectively. In comparison, 14 percent of non-traveling Gen Xers (ages 45-60) say they can’t take off work, while just 9 percent of boomers (ages 61-79) cite that reason.
Gen Z may have the means, but lacks the desire to travel
Out of the Gen Z Americans who aren’t traveling this summer, only half (50 percent) say it’s because they can’t afford it. That’s significantly lower than non-traveling millennials, Gen X and baby boomers.
- Millennials: 73 percent
- Gen X: 67 percent
- Baby boomers: 68 percent
However, 25 percent of Gen Zers say they just aren’t interested in traveling currently, which is similar to the percentage of Gen Xers (24 percent) and boomers (25 percent) who also say they aren’t interested in traveling.
Millennials, on the other hand, seem to want to travel, with just 16 percent citing lack of interest keeping them at home, but may not have the means to do so, as they’re the most likely (73 percent) to say affordability keeps them from venturing out (respondents could select multiple options).
Higher income households are traveling more
When household income increases, people are likely to have more wiggle room to afford non-essentials like travel. While cost is still the top reason Americans with annual household incomes of $80,000+ aren’t traveling (47 percent), as you might expect, it’s a far less common response for that income bracket than it is for lower brackets. In comparison, over 7 in 10 of those with an annual household income of less than $40,000 (73 percent) say they can’t afford to travel this summer.
As the income brackets rise above the sub-$40,000 mark, affordability concerns gradually subside. Interestingly, higher-income Americans (those earning $80k+ annually) cite not being interested in travel (29 percent) at a higher rate than other income brackets (under $40k (24 percent) and $40k to $79.9k (19 percent), indicating that they, like Gen Zers, may have the means, but not the interest.
Everyday life is too expensive for almost 7 in 10 of those who say they cannot afford to travel
To better understand why non-travelers say they can’t afford summer travel, we dug more deeply and asked about the factors affecting affordability for them. In an overwhelming response, among Americans who say costs keep them from traveling, 68 percent cite everyday life being too expensive. Although the current rate of inflation is closer to the Fed’s 2 percent target than it has been in recent years, high prices are still hitting people’s wallets hard. To make matters worse, wages haven’t caught up to inflation since Q2 of 2021, so budgets might still feel tight even if you’ve managed to secure a raise or promotion at work.
The price of travel makes it inaccessible for many
In addition to the price of everyday goods and services, travel costs have gone up, too. And 64 percent of those who can’t afford to travel say it’s because travel is too expensive.
In fact, the price of booking a hotel or motel has gone up by 1.7 percent since last year and is now over 15 percent more expensive compared to pre-pandemic prices, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Jessica Norwood, co-host of the Sugar Daddy Podcast, has an annual family tradition of renting a beach house in North Carolina. She and her husband usually rent the house for a week and invite both sets of grandparents, but this summer looks different for them. The family-and-friends rate they usually pay has gone up by $1,000 due to insurance increases. Instead of canceling a beloved family tradition, Jessica got creative with her search for alternatives.
We’re actually doing one of those timeshare promotions, so we’re kind of hacking it a little. We didn’t want to spend the $4,500 to do that beach trip, but we still wanted to give the kids a little beach vacation. And so I actually ended up getting an offer from Hilton for four days, three nights, so not a full week, but it was $224 at one of their oceanfront resorts. The catch is, of course, we have to do a two-hour tour, which we will say ‘no’ to the entire time, because we will not get got.
— Jessica Norwood, The Sugar Daddy Podcast
While airfare costs have dropped in price since February 2020 according to the BLS, some flights are still astronomical, like the 85-minute flight Norwood looked at for a recent work trip, which she priced at $733 for a direct American Airlines flight from Raleigh, N.C. to Pennsylvania. Other common vacation costs, like dining out, have jumped by over 28 percent compared to pre-pandemic prices.
As a self-described type-A planner, Cinneah El-Amin, founder of Flynanced and a senior product manager, maps out most of her trips for the year well in advance. It helps her take advantage of flight deals, scout out award seats and craft a savings plan for those trips. Her detailed planning also helps insulate her from feeling the sting of higher travel costs. However, she still recalls when traveling felt more accessible.
“Maybe because I plan so far in advance, sometimes I don’t feel how much more expensive things are,” El-Amin says. “But, I can definitely remember a time, not so long ago, when you could get flight deals for like, under $100 or, it even cost less to use reward points to fly to places like Mexico and the Caribbean. That was like 2020 to 2021. In the early 2020s, I felt like I could take so many trips and maybe even be more spontaneous and that’s when I made less money.”
Nearly 3 in 10 American travelers plan to go into debt for summer travel
We’ve all been there. Scrolling through social media, watching someone go on their third tropical vacation this month and wondering how they’re paying for it.
For every 10 you see, count to three.
That’s about how many American travelers (29 percent) plan to go into debt for their summer getaways. That number has declined since last year’s survey when 36 percent indicated they expected to go into debt for their summer vacations. That may suggest those traveling Americans are less tolerant of taking on new debt for non-essential expenses like travel.
In the face of economic uncertainty, most people are opting to pay for their vacations out of pocket. These debt-free payment methods are some of the most popular options for people to cover their summer vacation costs (respondents were able to select more than one option):
- 56 percent are planning to pay in cash
- 47 percent are planning on using a debit card
- 42 percent are planning on using their credit card and paying in full to avoid interest
- 20 percent are planning to dig into their rewards points or miles
In addition to being a CFEI, Yonemoto is a work-optional millennial who uses her credit card points and miles to save big on vacations. She tracks her credit card usage, rewards and redemptions through a spreadsheet and estimates that she’s saved over $10,000 on travel by using her credit card points and miles strategically. She’s deeply in the habit of using her credit cards like a debit card and accruing sign-up bonuses for money she was already going to spend.
Her financial priority is to stay “comfortably work-optional/retired,” so going into debt for a trip isn’t an option she would consider. Instead, she pays for her vacations in cash or points.
Once people get into those sticky situations of living that big lifestyle, it can be really hard to dig themselves out of that financial hole.
— Linda Ta Yonemoto
CFEI
“I would encourage them to think carefully about their choices,” Yonemoto advises. “If it’s a big vacation you paid for that you can’t pay off, that just accumulates interest, and that interest is steep.”
Similarly, El-Amin has several summer trips planned this year, but she isn’t going into debt to take them. She’s using her credit cards and reimbursing herself for travel expenses that she’s already saved for. That enables her to take advantage of her credit card’s travel insurance and benefits and earn rewards while avoiding high-interest debt as she travels to Chicago, Senegal and Turks and Caicos Islands this summer.
I’m not relying on the credit card, but it’s more so that I can take advantage of added benefits that might be a part of my travel rewards card, like early check-in. If I use [The Platinum Card from American Express], being part of the hotel collection, or buying hotel stays, getting those upgrades, getting breakfast and earning status rewards.
— Cinneah El-Amin, Founder of Flynanced
Millennials and Gen Z are more likely to take on debt to travel
Even though taking on debt for travel seems less popular than last year, some generations are more apt to use debt to fund their travels than others. Among those traveling, millennials are more willing to take on debt for their summer vacation than older generations (Gen X at 29 percent and baby boomers at 22 percent), but Gen Z isn’t far behind (31 percent). Thirty-four percent of Millennials plan to take on debt for their summer getaways in the form of credit cards that they’llay off over time (27 percent); Buy Now, Pay Later services (4 percent); personal loans (3 percent); or borrowing from family/friends (5 percent; respondents could select multiple options).
Gen Z isn’t far behind, with 31 percent of those travelers saying they also plan to take on debt for their summer travels.
On the other hand, Boomers at 22 percent are the least likely to take on debt for summer travels.
“Summer is a big season where folks can find themselves in debt, but you don’t want to then run into the holiday season, and you’re still paying off debt from the summer, right?” El-Amin points out, adding that the holidays are another common time for people to take on more debt. “It seems like it’s far away, but if you’re thinking about thousands of dollars that you’re trying to pay down, it can very quickly snowball into more debt.”
When it comes to taking on debt, Gen Z is more willing to use Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) services to fund their travel plans than any other generation. One-tenth of them plan to use it to cover summer travel costs (millennials, 4 percent; Gen X, 5 percent; and boomers, 1 p percent). But BNPL may encourage overspending, with 34 percent of Gen Z BNPL users saying they have spent more than they should have, according to Bankrate’s 2024 Buy Now, Pay Later Survey.
Avoid high-interest travel debt with these alternatives
Credit card interest rates are notoriously high, with the current average APR sitting just above 20 percent. Paying for a vacation on your credit card might seem like a good idea at the moment, but you could easily pay a lot more than you bargained for if there’s no clear plan to pay it off. Instead of swiping your card with reckless abandon and screaming YOLO, try some of these alternatives.
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If you know you can comfortably pay off your vacation costs over the next 12 to 21 months, one of the best intro 0% APR credit cards could be a solid way to have your cake and eat it too. Be sure to come up with a plan to pay off your balance within the promotional period, and you can avoid the interest while paying off your summer vacation.
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If you’ve been using your credit card responsibly on autopilot, you might be overlooking some rewards that could help you cover the cost of your vacation. Check in on your points or miles balance and see how much they’re worth with different airlines to maximize your redemptions. With advanced planning, that’s how El-Amin was able to book a May 2025 non-stop flight in business class from New York to Dakar, Senegal for 70,000 points.
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If you still want to borrow money to travel, at least go with a less expensive option like a personal loan. It’s not zero interest, and you’ll have higher monthly payments compared to your credit card’s minimum payment. But with good credit, you could qualify for a much lower interest rate than a credit card.
Methodology
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This survey has been conducted using an online interview administered to members of the YouGov Plc panel of individuals who have agreed to take part in surveys. All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2,238 U.S. adults, of which 718 do not plan to travel this summer. Fieldwork was undertaken between March 10-12, 2025. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all U.S. adults (aged 18+). The survey was carried out online and meets rigorous quality standards. It gathered a non-probability-based sample and employed demographic quotas and weights to better align the survey sample with the broader U.S. population.
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