The Week in Travel Stats: Inside the Sharing Economy

July 2, 2015By: Newswire

This week in travel industry statistics saw a closer look at Millennials and the sharing economy, plus what Americans really think about “Open Skies” aviation policies. Here's an inside look.

60 Percent of Millennials Trust “Sharing Economy”

Millennial travelers putting their trust in the sharing economy is leading a decline in summer travel spending, according research released this week by Allianz Global Assistance (AGA).

According to AGA's sixth annual Allianz Travel Insurance Vacation Confidence Index, Americans will spend $85.5 billion on summer vacations in 2015, down 13.5 percent from $98.8 billion in 2014. The decline is being led by Millennial travelers aged between 18 and 34 that are more trusting of sharing economy services like Airbnb, Home Away, Uber, Lyft, GetAround and Feastly to book travel experiences. A majority (60%) of Millennials trust the sharing economy, compared to only 37 percent of all other travelers:

While only 47 percent of Americans are aware of at least one of these sharing economy services, more than 58 percent of Millennials aged 18-34 are aware of the non-traditional forms of booking accommodation, transportation, and experiences. And while only 17 percent of Americans say they’re likely to use a sharing economy service during their summer vacation this year, 28 percent of young adults under the age of 35 are planning to book their travel in these non-traditional ways.

This is despite all age groups of travelers agreeing that better experiences and services are provided by established methods.

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89 Percent of Consumers Favor Open Skies Policy

Also this week, advocacy organization OpenSkies.travel released a new study that found significant support for a U.S. government open skies policy. According to the study, which was conducted online using Google Consumer Surveys among 2,546 U.S. adults ages 18 and older, 89 percent of Americans who have traveled internationally or outside of the U.S by airplane agreed that they support U.S. government Open Skies policy objectives, “to lower airfares and provide more convenient travel options.” In addition, 67 percent of Americans agreed that, “the government should not give into U.S. airlines’ demands that foreign airline expansion into the U.S. be stopped.”

Other key findings include:

The survey was conducted online by Google Consumer Surveys, June 11 to June 19 and is based on 2,546 responses. The sample was consumers from the U.S. national adult Internet population who answered “Yes” to the question, “Have you ever traveled internationally or outside of the United States by airplane?” The average number of trips taken by airline in the past year for survey respondents was 2.3.

Source: OpenSkies.travel

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