From cutting back on eating out to postponing a major purchase, vacations remain as important as ever, despite the recession.

Pent-up leisure demand coupled with great travel deals means travelers will be hitting the road and taking to the skies in droves this summer.

Travelocity's most recent poll with TakingTheKids.com revealed that not only are vacations more important than ever, but travelers are willing to cut back on other expenses and use a variety of techniques to save money to take that much-deserved vacation.

Poll Findings:

• 85 percent of respondents feel vacations are as, or more, important than before the recession.
• Travelers are willing to cut back on expenses like entertainment (67 percent) eating out (67 percent) and even gifts to others (29 percent) and charitable donations (17 percent) to take a vacation.
• The most popular money-saving techniques are traveling at off-peak times (60 percent) and avoiding holidays (57 percent).
• Other tactics include picking the destination based on price, driving instead of flying and vacationing closer to home. 10 percent are willing to take kids out of school as a money-saving technique.

Family travelers are committed to planning vacations that the kids will enjoy, with nearly three-quarters of respondents saying that their kids are involved in at least some part of the vacation planning.

Though the kids are least likely to have a say in the actual destination (11 percent), they're far more likely to do research online (21 percent), determine the vacation type (24 percent) and / or select activities or events (56 percent).