AAA Northern New England Holiday Travel Poll Shows Economy's Effect on Residents' Trip Plans, Budgets

PORTLAND, ME, Nov 12 (MARKET WIRE) --
Despite continued economic challenges, 88 percent of Northern New England
residents who plan to travel over the November and December holidays say
they won't cut their travel budgets this year because of the economy,
according to a new poll conducted by the AAA Market Research Department.

The online survey of AAA Northern New England members, which includes
residents of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, also found that 47 percent
of those planning trips say they'll spend less than $500 on holiday
travel, while 68 percent plan to spend $1,000 or less.

More than half of those polled (56 percent) said they will definitely not
take an overnight trip at least 50 miles from home this holiday season,
and another 14 percent are still undecided about whether they will travel.
Among those who say they definitely won't travel, 24 percent cited the
economy as a major or sizeable influence on their decision, while 56
percent said it had little to no influence on deciding not to travel.

"We will find out in the next few weeks whether to expect an increase or
decrease in Thanksgiving and December holiday travel compared to last
year's holidays, but we do see many local travelers seeking ways to save
money and taking advantage of travel bargains created by the economic
downturn to get even more for their money," said AAA Northern New England
spokesman Pat Moody. "For example, 21 percent of our members in this poll
said they plan to use an affinity program such as AAA Discounts to get
reduced hotel rates."

Popular ways that holiday travelers in the poll said they planned to save
money on their upcoming trips included:

1) Staying with friends/family instead of a hotel (27 percent)
2) Using an affinity program such as AAA discounts to save money on a
hotel (21 percent)
3) Reducing shopping/souvenir budget (20 percent)
4) Traveling by car instead of by air (17 percent)
5) Staying in a less expensive hotel (17 percent)
6) Sharing costs with friends or family (17 percent)
7) Taking a shorter vacation (13 percent)
8) Redeeming loyalty points/miles for free/reduced cost plane fare
(13 percent)
9) Redeeming loyalty points/miles for free/reduced cost hotel stay
(11 percent)
10) Reducing budget for meals/snacks on the trip (10 percent)

The most popular activities during holiday trips, according to the
poll, are visiting family (62 percent), celebrating the holiday (36
percent), visiting friends (28 percent), sightseeing (25 percent),
shopping (21 percent), and maintaining a family tradition of traveling
during the holidays (14 percent).

Of the local residents planning to take at least one holiday trip the rest
of this year, the most popular destinations included traveling out of
state (68 percent), traveling within their state (27 percent), going to a
tropical destination (13 percent), traveling internationally (nine
percent) and going to a gambling destination such as Atlantic City (four
percent).

The travel poll was part of a survey that also asked Northern New England
consumers about their overall holiday shopping plans. The shopping portion
of the poll revealed that most consumers don't plan to cut back on the
number of people on their holiday gift lists, but a majority of them do
plan to cut their holiday shopping budgets this year.

More information about AAA discounts on lodgings, restaurants, other
travel services and everyday needs is available at AAA.com/save or at any
AAA Northern New England office.

Contact:
Pat Moody
(207) 780-6916

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