Department of Labor Logo United States Department of Labor
Dot gov

The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Travel expenditures during the recent recession, 2005–2011

January 15, 2013

From 2005 to 2011, average annual consumer expenditures on travel for pleasure peaked at $1,462 in 2007, fell to a low of $1,273 in 2009, and then rose to $1,372 in 2011—down 6 percent from their peak.

Average annual expenditures on travel, per consumer unit, 2005-2011
Average annual expenditures on travel, per consumer unit, 2005–2011
Item2005200620072008200920102011

Total trip spending

$1,293$1,408$1,462$1,411$1,273$1,300$1,372

Food and beverages

320329332327313309329

Food prepared by consumer unit on out-of-town trips

41434349494348

Food away from home

236243246238223223236

Alcoholic beverages

42434440424345

Lodging

294321343329300299315

Transportation

538610643622543570603

Airfare

285335360343301325342

Train, bus, ship fare

73838471726562

Car and truck rental

27282827252623

Local transportation (taxi, etc.)

18212120171720

Gasoline and motor oil

121129132146110119141

Parking fees and tolls

10101010111110

Recreational vehicles

4574675

Fees and admissions

141148145134116122125

 

From 2005 to 2011, the major components of travel expenditures—food and alcoholic beverages, transportation, lodging, and fees and admissions—showed similar spending patterns.  The largest component, transportation, experienced the most pronounced spending pattern—starting with annual average expenditures of $538 in 2005, peaking at $643 in 2007, falling to a low of $543 in 2009, and then steadily climbing to $603 in 2011.

For consumers reporting them, expenditures on travel for pleasure averaged $4,700 in 2011—compared to an average of $1,372 per consumer unit for all consumers.

These data are from the Consumer Expenditures Survey. Consumer units include families, single persons living alone or sharing a household with others but who are financially independent, or two or more persons living together who share expenses. To learn more, see "Travel expenditures, 2005–2011: spending slows during recent recession" (HTML) (PDF), Beyond the Numbers, December 2012. 

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Travel expenditures during the recent recession, 2005–2011 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2013/ted_20130115.htm (visited March 28, 2024).

OF INTEREST
spotlight
Recent editions of Spotlight on Statistics


triangle