The American Travel Market (1999)

The American Travel Market

The American Travel Survey, prepared by The Bureau of Transportation Statistics,  describes travel in the United States. The survey counted trips where the one-way distance was 100 miles or more. Annual trip volumes and passenger miles were projected from a national sample of 80,000 households.  This summary is based on data obtained from that report.

Market Overview

·         In 1995, Americans took more than a billion trips where the one-way distance between origin and destination was at least 100 miles. All but 4% were to destinations inside the US. Of all foreign trips, more than half were to Canada (28%) and Mexico (23%). Europe accounted for less than 18%. 

Person Trips	Millions	Percent
Total	1,042,615	100.0
Inside US	1,001,319	96.0
Foreign	41,296	4.0

Trip Purpose

·         Business travel accounted for a surprisingly small portion of total travel – less than one fourth of trips and just 26% of passenger miles. The remaining three fourths was for personal reasons and most likely at personal expense.

·         Visiting Friends and Relatives was the most frequent motivation for personal travel – accounting for roughly one third of all trips and miles.  Leisure was next with 30% followed by personal business (weddings, funerals, school, medical treatment, etc.) with 15%. 

·         The length of trip did not vary greatly by purpose. Business trips were longer than average but only by 14%. Personal business trips were shorter than average but by 11%.

·         Within the Leisure category, Rest and Relaxation was the most frequent motivation accounting for one third of leisure travel and more than 11% of all travel.  Outdoor recreation was next following by entertainment, sightseeing and shopping/miscellaneous.

·         Within the leisure travel category, average trip length varied greatly by purpose with sightseeing being the longer than average by 44% and shopping being the shorter than average by 58%.

 

	Person Trips	% Trips	Person Miles	% Miles	Avg OW Distance	Index
Business	224,835	22.45%	212,189	25.66%	472	114
Personal Business	146,338	14.61%	107,621	13.02%	368	89
Visit Friends/Relatives	330,755	33.03%	264,769	32.02%	400	97
Leisure	299,355	29.90%	242,201	29.29%	405	98
*R&R	115,154	11.50%	100,838	12.20%	438	106
*Sightseeing	42,649	4.26%	50,781	6.14%	595	144
*Outdoor Recreation	65,418	6.53%	41,620	5.03%	318	77
*Entertainment	58,757	5.87%	42,929	5.19%	365	88
*Shopping & Other	17,377	1.74%	6,033	0.73%	174	42
Other	36	0.00%	23	0.00%	319	77
Total	1,001,319	100.00%	826,803	100.00%	413	100

* Subcategories of Leisure.

Seasonality

Total travel is greatest in the third quarter  (22% above average) and lowest in the first quarter  (20% below average).  Business travel shows the least seasonal variation, leisure travel the most.  Personal Business and Visiting Friends and Relatives fall between these extremes.

Calendar Quarter	Total	Business	Visit Friends & Relatives	Leisure	Personal Business
Percent
1st	20.01%	25.58%	19.37%	16.49%	20.08%
2nd	25.81%	26.22%	23.91%	25.68%	29.70%
3rd	30.41%	25.77%	26.86%	38.30%	29.45%
4th	23.77%	22.43%	29.86%	19.53%	20.77%
Index
1st	80	102	77	66	80
2nd	103	105	96	103	119
3rd	122	103	107	153	118
4th	95	90	119	78	83
Index Range	42	15	42	87	38

 

Within the Leisure category, Sightseeing shows the greatest seasonal variation, followed by Rest and Relaxation. All Leisure sub-categories exhibit significant spikes in the third quarter except Shopping which peaks in the fourth.  

 

Calendar Quarter	Rest & Relax	Sightseeing	Outdoor Recreation	Entertainment	Shopping
1st	68	43	73	68	69
2nd	110	104	100	101	88
3rd	153	168	142	132	98
4th	68	85	85	99	146
Range	85	126	69	64	77

 

Length of Trip – Distance

·         Most trips are relatively short with 58% under 250 miles and nearly 80% under 500 miles.

·         Very long distance trips are a small segment of the total travel market. Fewer than 10% of all trips are 1,000 miles or longer but these trips accounted for nearly 42% of all passenger miles.

One Way Distance	Person Trip (thousands)	% of Total	Person Miles (millions)	% of miles	Average One Way
Total Domestic Trips	1,001,319	100.0%	826,804	100.0%	413
One Way Trip Distance
100 – 149 miles	306,433	30.6%	74,685	9.0%	122
150 – 249 miles	274,045	27.4%	106,007	12.8%	198
250 – 499 miles	214,006	21.4%	146,631	17.7%	343
500 – 999 miles	108,331	10.8%	153,316	18.5%	708
1000 miles or more	98,503	9.8%	346,192	41.9%	1,758

Length of Trip – Time

Nearly one fourth of all trips were day trips. Trips involving 1 to 3 nights away from home were the most typical, accounting for half of trips and 40% of passenger miles.  Trips of more than 7 nights accounted for less than 7.5% of trips but 18% of all passenger miles because the trip length averaged nearly a thousand miles. Not surprisingly, nights away from home correlated with distance traveled.

 

Nights Away	Person Trips	% Trips	Person Miles	% Miles	Avg Miles OW
None	239,727	23.94%	104,444	12.63%	218
1-3 Nights	502,465	50.18%	331,504	40.09%	330
4-7 Nights	184,766	18.45%	243,546	29.46%	659
8 + Nights	74,361	7.43%	147,309	17.82%	990

 

Mode Share – Total Market

·         Personal Use Vehicles (cars, etc) accounted for more than 80% of all trips, commercial air for 16%.   Trains accounted for only one half of one percent.

·         Average trip varied greatly by mode.  Cars had the shortest and – except for cruise ships – air had the longest. Train trips – at 436 miles – were longer than other forms of ground transportation.

·         Air accounted for just 16% of trips, but 43% of passenger miles.

Principal mode	Person Trip	% Trips	Person Miles	% Miles	Avg Miles OW
Personal Use Vehicle	813,858	81.3%	451,590	54.6%	277
Airplane	161,165	16.1%	355,286	43.0%	1,102
Charter or Tour Bus	14,247	1.4%	9,363	1.1%	329
Other Bus	6,198	0.6%	3,946	0.5%	318
Train	4,994	0.5%	4,356	0.5%	436
Other (ship, boat, ferry)	857	0.1%	2,263	0.3%	1,320

 

Mode Share by Purpose of Trip

·         The automobile dominated all types of travel regardless of purpose but was weaker for business travel.

·         Commercial air was in second place with greatest strength in business and weakest in Leisure and Personal Business. 

·         Rail finished a distance third in Visiting Friends and Relatives, fourth in business and personal business and fifth in Leisure (ahead only of “all other” and intercity bus).

·         In terms of comparative strength, however, the train was above average in the business and visiting friends and relatives categories, average in the personal business category and weakest in leisure travel where tour buses and ships had their greatest strength.

% of Trips	% Business	% Visit Friends & Relatives	%Leisure	% Personal Business
PUV	67.47%	85.61%	84.91%	85.28%
Commercial Air	29.84%	12.66%	10.55%	10.51%
Intercity Bus	0.13%	0.55%	0.23%	0.30%
Charter or tour bus	0.57%	0.36%	3.09%	1.72%
Train	0.60%	0.61%	0.32%	0.48%
Ship, boat, ferry	0.03%	0.01%	0.16%	0.01%
All Other	1.37%	0.20%	0.74%	1.70%
Index	% Business	% Visit Friends & Relatives	%Leisure	% Personal Business
PUV	83	105	104	105
Commercial Air	192	81	68	68
Intercity Bus	39	171	71	93
Charter or tour bus	40	25	217	121
Train	120	121	63	96
Ship, boat, ferry	49	21	263	22
All Other	163	23	88	202

 

Leisure Travel By Subcategory

Within the Leisure subcategories, the automobile was again the dominant factor showing the greatest relative strength in shopping.  Commercial air was second in all categories except shopping where Charter and Tour buses came in second. Rail showed relative strength only in sightseeing and was especially weak in shopping and outdoor recreation.

% Trips	Rest & Relaxation	Sightseeing	Outdoor Recreation	Entertainment	Shopping
PUV	82.72%	74.44%	90.20%	74.54%	93.89%
Commercial Air	13.73%	17.25%	6.54%	13.08%	2.50%
Private Air	0.50%	0.45%	0.80%	0.41%	0.20%
Intercity Bus	0.25%	0.17%	0.09%	0.72%	0.11%
Charter or tour bus	2.11%	6.02%	1.45%	10.33%	3.10%
Train	0.28%	1.22%	0.07%	0.32%	0.13%
Ship, boat, ferry	0.30%	0.23%	0.07%	0.01%	0.00%
Other	0.01%	0.03%	0.08%	0.06%	0.01%
Index	Rest & Relaxation	Sightseeing	Outdoor Recreation	Entertainment	Shopping
PUV	101	91	110	91	114
Commercial Air	116	146	55	111	21
Private Air	95	86	152	79	38
Intercity Bus	85	59	29	245	39
Charter or tour bus	49	140	34	240	72
Train	78	337	19	89	37
Ship, boat, ferry	187	145	43	8	0
Other	27	73	209	149	24

 

Modal Share by Distance Traveled

·         The percentage of trips taken by automobile declines as distance increases.  The drop is particularly significant when distance exceeds 500 miles. However, the automobile still has the dominant share for trips up to 1,000 miles and still accounts for more than one fifth of all trips over a thousand miles. 

·         The percentage of trips taken by air predictably increases with the distance traveled. Air accounts for and dominates the market over 1,000 miles with nearly three fourths of all travel. Air, however, does not get a significant share of trips until the distance exceeds 500 miles. However, even for short distance travel for trips between 100 and 150 miles, air has a higher share than rail – perhaps reflecting the larger number of city pairs served.

·         The market share for rail – although universally low – does not vary as significantly by distance as it does for automobile and air. Interestingly, rail’s share is nearly as strong for trips over 1,000 miles as it is for trips of 150-250. Rail’s greatest weakness involves trips in the 500-1000 mile category – again perhaps reflecting lack of service rather than customer choice.

 

% Share	100-149 Miles	150-249 Miles	250-499 Miles	500-999 Miles	1000+ Miles
PUV	95.53%	91.60%	76.29%	48.25%	22.87%
Commercial Air	0.70%	4.08%	19.15%	47.69%	74.21%
Intercity Bus	0.33%	0.42%	0.64%	0.31%	0.34%
Charter or tour bus	1.66%	2.04%	2.24%	1.91%	0.71%
Train	0.53%	0.87%	0.67%	0.38%	0.62%
Ship, boat, ferry	0.04%	0.02%	0.03%	0.08%	0.24%
All Other	1.20%	0.97%	0.99%	1.39%	1.02%
Index	100-149 Miles	150-249 Miles	250-499 Miles	500-999 Miles	1000+ Miles
PUV	124	119	99	63	30
Commercial Air	4	21	101	251	390
Intercity Bus	79	101	152	74	80
Charter or tour bus	92	113	124	106	39
Train	82	135	104	60	97
Ship, boat, ferry	74	36	48	128	397
All Other	110	88	90	126	93

 

Amtrak’s Current Business Base

Where does Amtrak’s business come from today? It depends on whether you count passengers or passenger miles. Based on the 1995 BTS data, it appears that trips between 100 and 500 miles accounted for 82% of Amtrak’s “long distance” ridership but only 43% of its passenger miles. Conversely, travel over 1,000 miles accounted for just over 10% of ridership but 45% of passenger miles.

 

OW Trip Length	% Trips	% Miles
100-149	24.31%	7.22%
150-249	35.98%	16.96%
250-499	22.21%	18.55%
500-999	6.90%	11.91%
1000+	10.60%	45.37%

Business travel produced slightly more than one fourth of Amtrak’s ridership (one way distance at least 100 miles).  Visiting friends and relatives was the most significant motivation, accounting for 40% of volume.  These two types of travel account for two thirds of Amtrak’s current business. Travel for “leisure” purposes was not quite 19%.

 

Trip Purpose	% of Trips
Business	26.87%
Visit Friends & Relatives	40.13%
Leisure	18.90%
Personal Business	14.10%
Total	100.00%

 

Within the leisure category, sightseeing was the most significant factor, accounting for 46% of leisure trips, followed by rest & relaxation at just under 29%.

 

Leisure sub category	% of Trips
Rest & Relaxation	28.71%
Sightseeing	46.18%
Outdoor Recreation	4.21%
Entertainment	18.72%
Shopping	2.18%
Total Leisure	100.00%

 

National Association of Railroad Passengers

September 7, 1999