What Drives Consumer Household Behavior in the Travel Market

Historically, the two major drivers of consumer household behavior in the travel market have been: 1) Household income and 2) Age of householder (household head). In addition, two additional behavioral characteristics (psychographics) have explained anomalies in this behavior, namely, the householder’s: a) Willingness (or desire) to try new things and b) Willingness (or desire) to spend. The following is a summary of the most recent findings just prior to the COVID pandemic: i) Household income remains the major positive driver of consumer spending on travel. ii) Age of householder (household head) remains the secondary driver of consumer spending on travel with travel spending peaking in households whose householders are aged 45 - 54 years. iii) Willingness (or desire) to try new things and willingness (or desire) to spend help to explain this peaking in travel spending by middle-aged householders. iv) These same householder attitudes are also key in the brands selected by traveling households.