By Mitch Lurin

Since its inception in 1977, the Mendelsohn Affluent Survey has become an international standard for providing information on media and marketing patterns of the affluent population in the United States. In response to a demand for more information about the travel habits of affluent adults, the project was expanded in 1996 to include a survey on business travel, vacation travel of five or more days, and weekend or midweek vacation travel.

All the Affluent Survey data, including the travel information, were collected among adults in households with annual incomes of at least $70,000, which represent 17 percent of the households and 22 percent of the adults in the United States. One measure of the importance of this affluent market is that these 17 percent of all U.S. households account for 44 percent of all U.S. household income.

The Affluent Population Matters

Virtually the entire affluent population (96%) travels for one reason or another, and more than half (53%) traveled for business purposes in the past year. In addition, the dollars spent on travel by the affluent comprise over three quarters of all domestic and out-bound dollars spent. Considering only domestic airline flights, the U.S. adult population as a whole took an average of 2.8 such flights per year, compared with an average of 8.2 flights among affluent adults.

How the Dollars Are Spent

Among the affluent, more than $6 out of every $10 spent on travel is for business travel. The other $4 is split almost evenly between vacations of 5 or more days and weekend or midweek trips. Travel itself, as opposed to accommodations and other expenses, takes more than 4 out of 10 travel dollars spent by the affluent, accommodations take almost 3, and incidental activities, other than fares and accommodations, the remaining 3 dollars.

Even Business Travelers Make Their Own Travel Decisions

The all-important business travelers rushing from meeting to meeting to do their companies' bidding still have time to make decisions about their own travel. Although corporate travel departments, travel agents, and colleagues play some part in decision-making, fully half of business fliers decide on which airline to use, 46 percent of car renters decide which car rental company to use, and 52 percent of business travelers decide where to stay.

Travel Patterns Among The Affluent

As affluence increases, travel becomes more frequent and travel spending goes up. An analysis among three affluent income segments (household incomes of $70,000 to $99,999; $100,000 to $199,999; and $200,000 or more) shows in every case that the most affluent segment is the most active. Members of this most affluent group are more than twice as likely to possess a current passport and to participate in a frequent flyer program than the $70,000 to $99,999 group. They are about twice as likely to have taken a cruise in the past three years and to be a hotel or motel guest on any given night. While the average spent on vacation trips per year among all affluent households is about $8,000, the average among the most affluent segment is over $14,000.

Travel Sources Consulted

When making decisions about vacation travel, affluent adults are much more likely to consult friends or relatives than to refer to any other source. Other useful sources are travel books, travel agents, and magazines. Perhaps surprisingly, fewer than one in ten affluent adults went on-line for travel information. This level is substantially lower than might be expected, given that three out of ten affluent adult vacationers subscribe to an on-line service and thus have the potential to gather information from the Internet. It is clear that, at this time, the Internet does not prevail over other media as a source of travel information.

These are just some of the findings from our 1996 Mendelsohn Travel Survey. It contains a wealth of information for determining marketing benchmarks, guiding media planning, and providing strategic insights. But the single most important finding is that the affluent traveler is the key to the travel market.

Sources: Bureau of the Census Current Population Surveys, March 1996; Air Transport World; Travel Industries Association; 1996 Mendelsohn Affluent Survey and 1996 Mendelsohn Affluent Travel Survey.