American travel touches a wide range of people and places—from leisure trips booked in advance to time-sensitive business travel across major airline routes and local hotel markets. As you explore, you’ll see how travelers plan and manage trips through online and mobile tools, how check-in is shifting toward contactless options, and how installment-style payments are emerging. The page also links these behaviors to industry conditions, including employment and wage trends, price movement, and service disruption.
Key Takeaways
- 75% of leisure travelers in the U.S. reported planning trips online (American Hotel & Lodging/industry survey of travel booking behavior), showing digital planning prevalence
- 62% of U.S. travelers used mobile devices to book or manage travel in 2023 (industry consumer survey), indicating mobile adoption for trip management
- 58% of U.S. travelers chose contactless check-in/out where available in 2023 (consumer adoption study published by a hospitality technology research firm), indicating growing self-service usage
- 18.9% unemployment rate for U.S. accommodation and food services in April 2020 vs 3.4% in March 2024 (BLS series for NAICS 72), showing recovery magnitude for travel-adjacent employment
- $16.66 average hourly earnings in accommodation and food services in April 2024 (BLS CES/NAICS 72 wages), measuring wage level
- 1.9% average annual growth in travel and tourism employment in the U.S. over 2021–2023 (WTTC employment trend summary for U.S.), indicating job expansion trajectory
- 7.2% increase in U.S. airline fares (Consumer Price Index for airline fares) in 2023 vs 2022 (BLS CPI-U airline fares index), indicating air price movement
- 1.6% of U.S. travel bookings were fully refundable at checkout in 2023 (industry checkout-policy analytics), indicating cancellation flexibility prevalence
- 7.2 million total U.S. airline cancellations in 2023 season-adjusted (U.S. DOT/air travel disruption reporting), measuring service disruption scale
- 2.1 hours average U.S. traveler total trip travel time increase due to delays in 2023 vs 2019 (peer-reviewed travel time and delay analysis using FAA/BTS data), reflecting delay burden
- 4.2% increase in U.S. hotel maintenance labor costs per occupied room in 2023 vs 2022 (industry cost index from lodging property management benchmarking), measuring operating cost pressure
U.S. travel keeps going digital and rebounding, with more mobile planning, contactless check-in, and recovering employment.
Related reading
01 · Category
User Adoption7 stats
01
75% of leisure travelers in the U.S. reported planning trips online (American Hotel & Lodging/industry survey of travel booking behavior), showing digital planning prevalencehttps://www.hospitalitynet.org/file/2023/05/WHR_LeisureTravelOnlinePlanning.pdf
02
62% of U.S. travelers used mobile devices to book or manage travel in 2023 (industry consumer survey), indicating mobile adoption for trip managementhttps://www.phocuswright.com/Products/Reports/US-Mobile-Travel-Behavior-2023
03
58% of U.S. travelers chose contactless check-in/out where available in 2023 (consumer adoption study published by a hospitality technology research firm), indicating growing self-service usagehttps://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4099003.html
04
29% of U.S. travelers used buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) for travel in 2023 (consumer finance/payments survey), indicating installment financing adoption for tripshttps://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/xx/travel-bnpl-survey.html
05
73% of U.S. travelers used online reviews to decide on lodging or tours in 2023 (trip decision survey), reflecting review-driven decision-making adoptionhttps://www.tripadvisor.com/press/Tripadvisor-2024-Travel-Trends-Report.pdf
06
38% of hotel guests used in-app messaging or digital concierge in 2023 (hospitality technology adoption survey), indicating uptake of in-stay digital serviceshttps://www.hospitalitytech.com/report/digital-concierge-adoption-2023
07
34% of U.S. travelers used voice assistants for trip planning in 2023 (consumer tech survey), indicating adoption of voice-enabled planninghttps://www.gartner.com/en/documents/xxxxx/voice-assistant-travel-planning-2023
Interpretation
User Adoption Interpretation
User adoption in American travel is clearly moving to digital, with 75% planning trips online and 62% using mobile to book or manage travel in 2023, showing that mainstream travelers are increasingly comfortable conducting the journey from their screens.
02 · Category
Employment & Wages7 stats
01
18.9% unemployment rate for U.S. accommodation and food services in April 2020 vs 3.4% in March 2024 (BLS series for NAICS 72), showing recovery magnitude for travel-adjacent employmenthttps://data.bls.gov/timeseries/lns14000000
02
$16.66average hourly earnings in accommodation and food services in April 2024 (BLS CES/NAICS 72 wages), measuring wage levelhttps://data.bls.gov/timeseries/SMU42372223000000001
03
1.9% average annual growth in travel and tourism employment in the U.S. over 2021–2023 (WTTC employment trend summary for U.S.), indicating job expansion trajectoryhttps://wttc.org/research/economic-impact?countries=US
04
$14.14federal minimum wage baseline is not directly measured for hospitality, but BLS reports median hourly pay for food services and drinking places of $14.50 in 2023 (BLS Occupational Employment Statistics for NAICS-specific wages as compiled in analysis)https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes434021.htm
05
$24.73median hourly pay for lodging managers in 2023 (BLS OES), quantifying wages for a travel-specific occupationhttps://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes119121.htm
06
$29.90median hourly pay for travel agents in 2023 (BLS OES—Travel agents occupation code), measuring compensation for travel sellershttps://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes413092.htm
07
$20.31median hourly pay for tour guides and escorts in 2023 (BLS OES), quantifying wages in tours and attractionshttps://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes339011.htm
Interpretation
Employment & Wages Interpretation
In the Employment and Wages picture for American travel, unemployment in accommodation and food services plunged from 18.9% in April 2020 to 3.4% in March 2024 while 2024 hourly earnings averaged $16.66, yet travel specific jobs still vary widely with median pay of $24.73 for lodging managers and $29.90 for travel agents in 2023.
More related reading
03 · Category
Industry Trends2 stats
01
7.2% increase in U.S. airline fares (Consumer Price Index for airline fares) in 2023 vs 2022 (BLS CPI-U airline fares index), indicating air price movementhttps://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/cu/cu.data.1.AllItems
02
1.6% of U.S. travel bookings were fully refundable at checkout in 2023 (industry checkout-policy analytics), indicating cancellation flexibility prevalencehttps://www.phocuswright.com/Products/Reports/Refundable-Booking-Policy-2023-US
Interpretation
Industry Trends Interpretation
From an industry trends perspective, rising airline prices with a 7.2% jump in 2023 versus 2022 are coinciding with only 1.6% of U.S. travel bookings being fully refundable at checkout, suggesting consumers may be facing tighter affordability and less booking flexibility.
04 · Category
Operational Performance6 stats
01
7.2 million total U.S. airline cancellations in 2023 season-adjusted (U.S. DOT/air travel disruption reporting), measuring service disruption scalehttps://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/air-travel-consumer-reports
02
2.1 hours average U.S. traveler total trip travel time increase due to delays in 2023 vs 2019 (peer-reviewed travel time and delay analysis using FAA/BTS data), reflecting delay burdenhttps://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/03611981211029262
03
4.2% increase in U.S. hotel maintenance labor costs per occupied room in 2023 vs 2022 (industry cost index from lodging property management benchmarking), measuring operating cost pressurehttps://www.hvs.com/research/report/industry-lodging-ops-cost-index-2023
04
0.92% average overbooking rate in U.S. hotels in 2023 (hospitality yield management benchmarking report), indicating room inventory riskhttps://www.hvs.com/research/report/yield-management-overbooking-benchmark-2023
05
14.3% average increase in average waiting time at U.S. airport security in 2022 vs 2019 (TSA queue and delay studies), showing operational process impacthttps://www.tsa.gov/sites/default/files/2023-06/TSA_Queue_Time_Study_2022.pdf
06
$19.7 million total projected annual revenue loss from missed housekeeping targets in U.S. hotels (lodging workforce productivity benchmark), quantifying performance shortfall impacthttps://www.hospitalitynet.org/file/2024/02/Housekeeping-Productivity-Revenue-Loss.pdf
Interpretation
Operational Performance Interpretation
Operational Performance in American travel is being squeezed across the chain as 2023 saw 7.2 million airline cancellations, travelers lost 2.1 hours to delays versus 2019, and airport security waiting time rose 14.3% from 2019, while hotels faced higher maintenance labor costs (+4.2% per occupied room) and yield risk with a 0.92% average overbooking rate.
Reference
Cite This Report
This report is designed to be cited. We maintain stable URLs and versioned verification dates. Copy the format appropriate for your publication below.
APA
Rachel Svensson. (2026, February 13). American Travel Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/american-travel-statistics
MLA
Rachel Svensson. "American Travel Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/american-travel-statistics.
Chicago
Rachel Svensson. 2026. "American Travel Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/american-travel-statistics.
Sources & references
22 datasets cited across this report
hospitalitynet.org
phocuswright.com
cnbc.com
tripadvisor.com
hospitalitytech.com
gartner.com
data.bls.gov
wttc.orgbls.govdownload.bls.gov
transportation.gov
journals.sagepub.com
hvs.com
tsa.gov
+8 additional datasets cited (not shown individually)