🚗Road trip! Summer vacationers are leaning into car trips to curb costs
School is almost out for the summer, which means vacation planning is well underway in many households.
But with the cost of air travel surging, outpacing inflation, travelers this year are seemingly getting comfortable with the idea of budget travel options that include hitting the road instead of soaring into the sky for their upcoming warm-weather trips.
As many as 83% of people polled in a new summer travel survey by GSTV indicated they plan to drive to their summer vacation destination, while 54% also say they will drive instead of fly due to the increasing cost of airfare.
GSTV is a digital content and advertising media platform which operates a national network of video screens at more than 29,000 fuel retailers and convenience locations across the country. The company said its network reaches about 40% of American adults, or about 115 monthly unique viewers.
Also, 39% of people polled said they are waiting longer than usual this year to finalize their summer travel plans because of high airfare costs.
“Overall, summer travel is still alive and well. Our survey shows that a majority of folks said they will take at least one vacation of two or more days this summer and more than 80% of them will drive on their summer vacation as they’re trying to be more budget conscious,” said Eric Sherman, executive vice president of insights and analytics with GSTV, told Bagable.com.
According to the survey, a majority of respondents said they planned to drive between 100 miles to more than 300 miles this summer. The survey polled 500 respondents from Feb. 21, 2025 to March 12, 2025 and was conducted by MFour Mobile Research for GSTV.
In terms of top destinations for road trippers, the most popular choices this year include beach spots, mountain, countryside sojourns and US cities.
“The biggest increase in interest, however, is in National Parks,” said Sherman. The report also showed that the July 4 holiday weekend edged out Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends as the most popular time for planning the upcoming summer vacation.