Traditional business and convention travel may be suffering but a Travel Poll by the Travel Industry Association of America (TIA) shows that leisure travelers aren`t…
Traditional business and convention travel may be suffering but a Travel Poll by the Travel Industry Association of America (TIA) shows that leisure travelers aren`t shying away from attending non-business conferences. The TIA Travel Poll found that more than one-third (36%) of Americans have traveled to attend a non-business conference for personal, social, or civic reasons in the past three years. This translates to nearly 75 million U.S. adults who have taken a trip of 50 miles or more one-way, away from home in the U.S. in order to attend such events. A non-business conference is defined as a conference, meeting or special event unrelated to job or occupation.
The popularity of non-business conference travel is rising, up from 29 percent in 1999. Examples of such travel include attending organized religious conferences, self-improvement or educational conferences, hobby-related conferences. Other types of non-business conferences include alumni, fraternity or sorority reunions, political rallies or conventions and military reunions.
TIA`s representative telephone survey of 1,300 U.S. adults found that Americans who take multiple trips per year are more likely to attend a non-business conference. About four in ten Americans (37%) who attended such an event in the past three years are frequent pleasure travelers, having taken five or more pleasure trips in just the past year. Baby boomers (age 35 to 54) comprise the highest volume of non-business conference travelers (43%). Generation X and Y travelers make up the next highest volume, with more than one-third (35%) attending such events. A majority (58%) are married and three in ten (31%) have a college degree or more. Four in ten (44%) have annual household incomes of $50,000 or more.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
