Here's a small stat I found at the bottom of a page in Money magazine's August issue:
Average amount Americans planned to spend on summer vacation (according to a Visa study): $1,654.
A few thoughts on this:
1. Since it says "summer vacation" I assume this is not total vacation spending for the year, but it's just for the summer time vacations Americans take.
2. This is way above what we spend on our average summer vacation. In fact, most years we spend $500 or so for the FULL YEAR -- most of it spent on gas driving to see family and friends.
3. That said, every ten years or so we have a "big" vacation (like our trip this year to Disney) and we go way over $500. Still, even with this averaged in, we're still at less than $1,000 a year over the past ten years.
What do you spend on your vacations? Do you just take them in the summer or are there other times you travel?
I go to visit my family in the Dominican Republic and that usually costs around $1,000, but I do it every other year, so it averages $500 per year.
Posted by: Cherly | August 16, 2007 at 09:11 AM
Sounds about right, we took our first vacation in 4 years this summer. We thought we were doing it cheap we drove 8 hours and spent around 1300 on a condo for 8 days 7 nights, probably spent another 250 or more on gas, groceries and eating out a couple of nights.
I could have spent less, but this is a vacation and I don't want a lot of hassle and want to stay in a tent or motel 6.
Posted by: Richard | August 16, 2007 at 10:02 AM
correct that should have said " I DON'T want to stay in a tent or motel 6"
Posted by: Richard | August 16, 2007 at 10:03 AM
That sounds about right for us. We have a timeshare and the yearly maintenance fees run about $500/yr. Then we take a one week vacation, budgeting $100/day for entertainment and food. I save $1000 each year for the vacation itself to account for gas and the daily budget. At times we've brought $200-250 home at the end, but if we visit any big theme parks, we use all the budget. I would never have bought a timeshare on my own, but it was a gift from my mother. We've stayed in places that would have cost us far more than the $500 maint fee.
Posted by: Alison | August 16, 2007 at 10:17 AM
Guess my family helps pull the average up. Our vacations run $2g - $4g, easy. Not that we go to a bunch of theme parks or eat out all the time, we splurge on "where" we stay. This past year we rented a private house on the beach. No fighting other condo tenants for a spot in the sand, just our own private beach with our house 50 paces away. It's a beautiful thing, and worth every penny.
Posted by: Adam | August 16, 2007 at 11:31 AM
The last trip i went on wiht my husband cost us 3,000 +, Italy, next year we are going to England (probably 4000+), than the next year we are going to Disney, $2500 at least... So yeah, I probably average WAY over 1600, but we dont have any kids yet so I figure, do it while you can!
Posted by: emily | August 16, 2007 at 12:07 PM
I'll have spent at least five or six grand on flights alone for myself and my spouse by the end of this year. We tend to travel internationally though (we're imigrants). And yes, before anyone asks it's all budgeted and paid for. We had a long weekend in a small town recently and spent $100 + gas. Flying spaghetti monster bless the SPG points!
Posted by: Rashers Tierney | August 16, 2007 at 01:11 PM
Lately we've probably spent around $500 per year on vacations but that is mainly because my daughter is small enough that it is challenging to go on "big" vacations right now. Before she was born, and when she gets a little bigger, we did/will spend more. I am estimating we will average about $1500 a year then.
Before we judge too quickly on spending for vacations - and let me tell you I am a frugal guy - I think vacations are an important thing to budget and spend on. Everyone talks about how fast your kids grow up and you just never know what could happen in life so take the time to enjoy it. Of course you have to be in good financial shape to justify it and not put it on credit, etc.
Posted by: Scott | August 16, 2007 at 01:13 PM
Vacations are a big thing for us. We probably spend about $4-5,000 on 2 large ones .. one in the late winter/spring and one in the fall. (I'm not a fan of winter, so I vowed that once I had the $$ and vacation time, I'd take a week away from the Midwest cold.)
That said, we don't spend lavishly. We don't have kids so we travel off-season when rates are lower, and we do look for discounts. But it still adds up.
Posted by: Lin | August 16, 2007 at 06:00 PM
We do plenty of vacationing... but not that much in the summer, I suppose. My wife is a public school administrator, so she really needs a relaxing spring break. The last couple years that's meant going to an all-inclusive somewhere, like Jamaica or Mexico. We also take a week-long trip to see family at Christmas, but that costs much, much less, because we usually travel with my parents (and until recently with my sister and bro-in-law, too).
That leaves summer. Some summers we don't really take a trip, except to go stay with my wife's parents for a couple days here and there. This year my cousin got married in San Diego, so we added a few days to the front and back and took a week. Next summer we'll actually be gone for about 6 weeks, but that's a sabbatical paid for by a grant I received. :)
We live well within our means, give 20%, save 20%... so we figure this is something worth splurging on. :)
Posted by: Rich Schmidt | August 16, 2007 at 09:43 PM
Yep. Visiting family gets expensive when they live across an ocean.
Posted by: justin | August 16, 2007 at 09:44 PM
I budget for about £600 in vacations a year (approx $1200) and that's a step down, I used to spend twice as much. And that's just for one person.
Posted by: plonkee | August 17, 2007 at 07:15 AM
I haven't taken a summer vacation since I finished college. But we take a yearly spring vacation, flying out to visit friends in warmer climes. Probably spend about $1000 on airfare (can be less if we plan it right), and another $400 or so on incidentals like meals out, souvenirs for family, and gifts for our hosts.
Other than that, we take one or two long weekends each year, paying maybe $100-200 for gas and meals. We almost never stay in a hotel; in fact, the last two times we did, it was to help us catch an early morning flight for our "big" vacation.
I suppose it helps that we're young and get very little vacation time from our jobs. I'd say we spend $2000 or less on all our vacations in any given year.
Posted by: Anitra | August 17, 2007 at 10:08 AM
6000 at least for 2 big ones
Posted by: acf | December 21, 2009 at 08:31 PM
We take one big summer vacation every year and budget for $2000-$2500...sometimes we come back with some and sometimes we use it all.
Posted by: Crystal | December 21, 2009 at 09:16 PM