Improved confidence among US consumers has started to breathe some life back into the travel industry, but while hotel and air suppliers continue to benefit from the uplift in morale, a new Global Edition survey from PhocusWright reveals that many still are not spending.

Nearly four in 10 (38%) did not purchase a single leisure vacation within the past year. In fact, the entire traveler pool remained stagnant at 62% of all U.S. adults – well under pre-recession levels, when over 70% traveled for leisure. U.S. economic recovery is certainly happening – just not for everyone.

These findings suggest that travel industry growth is being curbed by disparity within the consumer population; some worked back up to taking extravagant vacations while others still struggle to fit travel back in their budgets.

According to PhoCusWright's U.S. Consumer Travel Report Fourth Edition,  early boomers (ages 45-54) are having an especially hard time. Their travel consumption took a turn for the worse over the past year as vacation dreams succumbed to the reality of college tuition, supporting elderly family members, retirement planning and a looming debt crisis. Incidence of travel within this group fell by 3% to 60%, and average trip expenditure among those who traveled dropped by over 10%.

"While it's encouraging to hear travel companies talk about breaking records rather than recuperating from recessionary setbacks, our research demonstrates how the recovery has left a significant portion of people behind," said Carroll Rheem, senior director, research at PhoCusWright (pictured right below).

"The dream of taking a well-deserved vacation has remained a fantasy for many would-be travellers. We expect to see improved results across the spectrum in 2012, but there is no doubt that value-consciousness will trump indulgence in many travel purchase decisions this year."

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