Foreign travel remains popular, survey shows

updated 12:05 p.m. ET July 24, 2008

NEW YORK - The weak U.S. dollar has not dissuaded Americans from planning trips abroad this year, but they may be heading to destinations closer to home, according to a survey released Thursday by Visa Inc.

Two in three respondents said they are as willing or more willing to travel abroad than they were a year ago, and half said they are likely to travel abroad in the next year. Of that half, two-thirds said they are considering destinations closer to the U.S. than they had in years past.

In mid-May, Visa surveyed 1,000 credit or debit card holders who live in the United States and have traveled outside the U.S. in the past three years. The phone survey, which was not limited to Visa holders, had a margin of error of plus-or-minus three percentage points.

Canada was the most popular international destination among respondents, followed closely by Mexico. Great Britain, Italy, France, the Bahamas and the U.S. Virgin Islands rounded out the top destinations.

The rankings are similar to last year when, based on tourist spending on U.S.-issued Visa cards instead of a survey, Visa found that Canada was the top destination with $2.9 billion in spending, followed by Mexico, where cardholders spent $1.7 billion.

"While travel close to home remains strong, what's interesting are travel destinations like Western Europe and the Caribbean are still popular," said Visa spokesman Paul Wilke.

In the first quarter of 2008, U.S. Visa cardholders spent $3.4 billion visiting the top 25 tourist destinations abroad, compared with more than $15 billion in all of 2007. Mexico was the top first-quarter destination, followed by Canada, Great Britain, Puerto Rico and Germany.

Among the 50 percent who said they plan to travel abroad within a year, Visa said, one in five are planning a high-cost trip.

Among the other 50 percent, who said they are not planning international travel, most cited high costs and the uncertain state of the U.S. economy. Nearly half plan to travel in the U.S. this year instead. Only 14 percent said terrorism was a reason for staying in the U.S.

"If you had looked at this study three or four years ago, I think terrorism would have been higher and the cost of travel would have been lower (on the scale)," Wilke said.

Although most said they are booking through online travel agencies, as well as hotel and airline Web sites, Wilke noted that nearly 45 percent said they plan to use a traditional agent to book their trip.

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