September 13, 1999 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Transportation the largest piece of pleasure travel spending

Consumer spending on transportation accounted for the biggest proportion of the average budget for pleasure travel in the summer of 1997.

[Chart data—TXT]

Of total travel dollars, 38 percent went towards transportation expenditures. Food and alcohol was the next largest expenditure category, at just over 28 percent. Lodging was the third biggest item, with a share of almost 23 percent.

Of the transportation expenditures in the travel budget, airfare was the largest. Expenditures on airfare accounted for half of transportation expenditures and for about 19 percent of the total travel dollar.

These data are a product of the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey program. All travel expenses cited above are for non-business travel. Additional information is available from "Issues in Labor Statistics: Consumer Spending on Traveling for Pleasure" (PDF 20K).