Love Home Swap survey reveals Americans’ travel bucket lists

Love Home Swap, one of the world’s leading home exchange programs, is releasing results from its Travel Bucket List Survey+ of 1,000 Americans. The survey uncovers U.S. consumers’ travel aspirations and the barriers that stand in their way.

According to Love Home Swap’s Travel Bucket List Survey, 77% of Americans have a travel bucket list, but only 3% have actually visited all the destinations on their list. There are a variety of reasons they cite for not making the trips, but overwhelmingly, the top barrier (85%) is cost.

“At Love Home Swap, we’re committed to helping provide our members with unique vacations for a fraction of the cost of traditional accommodations,” said Ben Wosskow, managing director, Love Home Swap. “Our research shows that people want to live like locals when they travel. With thousands of inspiring properties around the world ripe for swapping, we can help them experience a new place for a whole lot less without having to forgo any of their usual home comforts.”

What are those travel bucket list destinations on people’s minds? The top five emerging international hotspots that Americans are interested in visiting include Japan (55%), Finland (34%), Thailand (34%), Portugal (28%) and Argentina (26%). While these places can be pricey to travel to, home swapping can be an ideal alternative to help travelers who otherwise might not be able to cross a dream destination off their bucket list.

Love Home Swap’s Travel Bucket List Survey Results:

77% of US consumers have a travel bucket list

The most desirable countries on people’s travel bucket lists are:

• 55% Japan
• 34% Finland
• 34% Thailand
• 28% Portugal
• 26% Argentina
• 19% Singapore
• 14% Croatia
• 5% Slovenia

Likeliness of consumers visiting destinations on their bucket lists:

• 3% have already visited all the destinations on their bucket list
• 52% are likely to visit a destination on their bucket list
• 45% are unlikely to visit a destination on their bucket list

Barriers to checking off destinations on travelers’ bucket lists:

• 21% dream big, but tend not to follow through
• 85% say cost is an issue
• 19% don’t have anyone to travel with and they don’t want to travel alone
• 5% don’t think that hotels provide a comfortable travel experience as they don’t have enough space
• 14% want to experience the destination like a local, but don’t know how to
• 17% have too many places they want to travel to

American views on home swapping:

• 4% have done a home swap
• 14% plan on home swapping, but haven’t yet
• 20% are nervous about someone staying in their home
• 29% are not familiar with home swapping
• 34% aren’t interested in a home swap

Methodology
+This survey conducted by M Booth and was fielded to a panel of 1,000 consumers ages 21+ from July 13, 2018 to July 18, 2018. Results were collected and analyzed using a web-based platform that delivers pulse surveys to respondents via their mobile devices, providing real-time data. Pulse surveys are short surveys that use a crowd-sourcing data collection methodology to measure general consumer attitudes about topical issues. While pulse surveys use a different sampling approach (crowdsourcing) compared to syndicated benchmarking studies, the data is representative of the US population and typically has a margin of error of +/- 3% (95% confidence, based on 1,000 respondents).

source: Travel Daily News