New Origin Data Shows That the Travel Spending Divide Is Very Real

It’s that time of year when it kind of feels like everyone you know is on a gorgeous vacation — or at least everyone you follow on Instagram. From glamorous jaunts to the south of France, hiking trips with breathtaking vistas in a region that is not easy to get to, or weeks on beaches where people use “summer” as a verb, none of the types of trips that take over our feeds in July and August are particularly cheap. 

In fact, new data from Origin reveals that a decent chunk of summer travellers are really shelling out this summer: Nearly a quarter (24%) of respondents to an Origin survey on summer spending said they are spending $5,000 or more on summer travel. Another 20% said they’re spending between $2,500 and $5,000 on trips this season. 

The responses also reveal another trend that sometimes makes the Instagram vacations feel even more out of reach: The travel spending divide is real. A full 20% of respondents said they are spending $0 on travel — because they’re not going on vacation at all this summer. Another 18% of respondents said they’re spending less than $1,000, which means that nearly 40% are spending under $1,000, a sharp contrast to the nearly 45% spending $2,500 or more. 

Survey respondents were all readers of The Gist, Origin’s bi-weekly newsletter focusing on personal finance and market analysis — so these travel and vacation responses choices are coming from an audience particularly attuned to wealth-building and spending smartly. With that in mind, it’s hard to extrapolate a “why” with regard to this spending gap. Since travel is a big-ticket item when it comes to discretionary spending, it’s likely that people on the lower end this summer are saving up for other things, like a wedding or a downpayment — or they are simply tightening their belts as the economic outlook continues to look a bit uncertain in the coming months.