56% Drop in Travel Spending

The average American household spent 56 percent less on travel in 2020 than it did in 2019, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics' analysis of the Consumer Expenditure Survey. The average household spent $2,100 on travel in 2019 and just $926 in 2020. The decline in travel spending in the first year of the coronavirus pandemic is no surprise, of course. Some may wonder why the decline was not even greater. 

Average household spending on travel in 2020 (and 2019)

Total travel spending: $926 ($2,100)

Transportation: $300 ($849)

Lodging: $318 ($619)

Food on trips: $208 ($423)

Entertainment on trips: $64 ($139)

Alcohol on trips: $35 ($70)

Of the two major components of travel spending—transportation and lodging—transportation experienced the bigger decline—a 65 percent drop for the category as a whole and even bigger declines for individual modes of transportation. Average household spending on airline fares fell 69 percent, spending on intercity train fares was down 74 percent, intercity bus fares 85 percent, and local transportation on trips 66 percent. Spending on gasoline on out-of-town trips fell by a smaller 43 percent.

Average household spending on lodging fell 49 percent between 2019 and 2020—less than the 65 percent decline in transportation spending. Consequently, the average household devoted more travel dollars to lodging than it did to transportation in 2020, a break from past patterns.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditures on Travel Declined Sharply from 2019 to 2020