Frequent Travelers Data.

Nearly a quarter (21 percent) of adults in 74 cities nationwide are frequent domestic travelers, taking five or more overnight trips (business or personal), either by air, land or sea, within the Continental U.S. during the past 12 months according to Scarborough Research.

Twenty eight percent of adults in Atlanta and Austin packed their bags the most often. Other U.S. cities where residents are on the go include Dallas; Mobile, Ala.; and Charlotte, N.C. (all ranked at 27 percent).

Meanwhile, consumers in Buffalo, N.Y. were the least likely to pack their bags at 14 percent. Other cities where residents preferred to stay close to home include Louisville, Ky. (16 percent); Wilkes-Barre, Penn.; and El Paso, Tex. (both 17 percent). Other metropolitan cities such as New York and Los Angeles ranked well below the national average, with only 18 percent of consumers in these markets qualifying as frequent domestic travelers.

Frequent travelers are 17 percent more likely then the average adult to be white-collar workers and 12 percent more likely to be men. Over a third (38 percent) of all frequent domestic travelers are affluent, having household incomes of $75,000+ and a quarter (25 percent) are single. The data also revealed a strong correlation between education level and willingness to travel often. College grads are 29 percent more likely than average adult to make frequent domestic journeys, while those with post-graduate degrees are 50 percent more likely then the norm to do the same.

“Some might ask what the driving factors of frequent domestic travelers are,” said Alisa Joseph, vice president, director of sales, Advertiser Marketing Services, Scarborough Research. “Scarborough found that markets with a high percentage of frequent travelers have bigger families and higher household incomes. Additionally, frequent travelers have a tendency to work for large companies in those markets. Types of professions also seem to be a factor, particularly in the engineering, sales, financial and computer-related industries.”

In addition to providing insight on where frequent travelers live, the Scarborough study also sheds light on where they’re traveling. Among domestic travel hot spots, frequent travelers are more than twice as likely than the average adult to have visited New York City in the past 12 months. Other popular destinations include Los Angeles (79 percent more likely), Orlando (65 percent more likely) and the famed Las Vegas strip (62 percent more likely).

The survey also found that frequent domestic travelers, whether at home or on the go, are an active group, engaging in many sports and entertainment activities at rates well above the norm. For instance, they are 85 percent more likely than the general population to snow ski, 43 percent more likely to go camping and 29 percent more likely to go bicycling. Meanwhile, almost half (48 percent) have attended a professional sports event in the past 12 months, 34 percent have seen a live theater performance, and 18 percent have attended a rock concert.

“In this challenging economy, gaining insight into consumer activities and travel patterns is especially important because it can help advertisers target domestic travelers more efficiently,” said Ms. Joseph. “By building advertising and promotional campaigns around select markets and activities that appeal to frequent travelers, tourist boards, travel agencies and transportation companies can reach high concentrations of people who are already predisposed to taking domestic trips.”

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http://www.scarborough.com/scarb2002/press/pr_travel_data.htm