New Kayak.com Search Data & Survey Show Students Staying Closer to Home for Spring Break

COLLEGE SPRING BREAKERS STAYING CLOSER TO HOME

New Kayak.com Search Data & Survey Show Students Cutting Back on Travel Because of Economic Downturn,

U.S. Destinations More Popular than Caribbean

NORWALK, Conn. – Feb. 22, 2008 – With recession fears and airfares rising, college students are spending spring break closer to home this year, according to new Kayak.com search data and survey results. By a margin of nearly 7 to 1, more college students are looking at vacationing in U.S. cities instead of Caribbean destinations, while a whopping 60% say they are cutting back their travel plans because of the economy.

             Based on 66,000 Kayak.com searches from .EDU domains, eight of the Top 10 most popular destinations are in the U.S., with Miami remaining the top destination for the second year in a row. San Juan, Puerto Rico, one of the only Caribbean destinations that doesn’t require a passport, remained the region’s most popular destination by a landslide.

             While the volume of spring break travel searches at Kayak.com increased by over 50% over last year, most college students are procrastinating when it comes to making travel plans. According to Kayak’s survey of nearly 600 college students, 55% haven’t booked their trip yet. Nearly half of respondents (49%) say they’re choosing to save money and spend their vacation at home. If money was no object, most respondents would head Down Under, with Australia ranking as the top dream destination for 1-in-5 students.

             Many students want to do more than party during over spring break, with 51% telling Kayak they are interested in doing a volunteer vacation and 19% saying they’ve already participated in such a program and would do it again.

SPRING BREAK SEARCHES AT KAYAK.COM

The data below is based on approximately 66,000 searches from .EDU domains during the month of January for searches during the date range of the collective spring break periods at the Top 100 colleges and universities.