While many U.S. travelers have cut spending and “traded down” to more affordable transportation, lodging and related options in recent months, “affluent travelers” (those with an annual household income in excess of $150,000, the top eight percent of U.S. households) appear to be bucking the trend.

According to the just-released Ypartnership 2008 Portrait of Affluent Travelers, fully 97 percent of these travelers have taken a domestic leisure trip during the previous 12 months (for an average of just under five leisure trips), and a remarkable 41 percent took at least one trip outside the United States (for an average of just over two such trips). Almost half (45 percent) took at least one business trip during the previous year (for an average of approximately eight trips). Among them, almost all took at least one domestic business trip (for an average of six), and fully one third (35 percent) traveled internationally on business, for an average of six such trips. 

According to Peter Yesawich, chief executive officer of Ypartnership, "Although affluent travelers have also been adversely affected by the financial turmoil that has emerged in recent months, particularly as it relates to the degradation of the value of their investment portfolios, they remain rather optimistic about their intentions for both leisure and business travel."