20-05-2025
Many Americans plan to skip summer vacations due to financial restrictions, UMBC polls finds
About 47% of Americans will skip a summer vacation this year due to financial restrictions, according to a poll from UMBC.
UMBC surveyed 1,123 adults in America between May 1 and May 5 to determine how summer vacation trends have changed for 2025.
About half of Americans will skip summer vacation in 2025
According to the poll, a majority of Americans plan to forgo a summer vacation in 2025 for various reasons.
While 47% of respondents said they cannot afford a vacation, about 21% said their family and personal obligations do not allow them the time to take a vacation this summer.
The insight comes as many people in Maryland and across the nation have been impacted by federal funding and workforce cuts facilitated by the Trump administration.
The federal cuts are part of the administration's effort to decrease spending and make the government more efficient.
Another 20% of survey respondents said they would rather take a vacation during another season, and 16% said they can't get enough time off work to take a vacation.
Americans share their opinions on summer vacations
According to the poll, about 55% of Americans said they plan to spend at least two nights on vacation this summer.
The survey found that about 54% of Democrats plan to take a vacation, compared to 61% of Republicans and 45% of Independents.
The survey also found that more than half of their respondents prefer to try different vacation destinations each year, while only 16% like returning to the same destination.
Trust in major airlines remains strong amid FAA issues
The survey revealed that a majority of Americans still feel safe flying with major airlines, despite some hiccups over the past year, including plane crashes and delays due to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) or airline staffing issues.
In January, an American Airlines flight crashed in Washington, D.C., killing 67 people.
Afterward, WJZ found that some passengers at BWI Airport felt uneasy about flying.
"Well, I feel very safe, but no doubt, when you're taking off or you're landing, you're going to think a little bit more about it than you would normally," Anne Arundel County resident Adam Pohl said.
Since then, there have been several more reported crashes, like a medical jet crash in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that killed seven people.
There have also been some near misses, like an almost collision between a Delta plane and a military jet near Reagan National Airport in March.
Despite this, UMBC's poll found that 57% of respondents felt safe flying commercial.
The survey also found that 80% of people felt safe driving a personal vehicle, and 57% felt safe riding on a U.S. passenger train.
