The Dollar Days of Summer: How Consumers Spend on Summer Fun

With summer, comes more travel, summer camps, and fun in the sun. However, most often, that fun comes with a price tag, and never has this been more true than in recent years. This is in part due to summer “funflation” — a term economists use to explain the increasing price tags of live events after the forced lull in travel and entertainment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

As summer comes to a close, we asked consumers to share how funflation has impacted their summer spending habits. While CNBC reported that 38% of adults were planning on taking on more debt to travel, dine out, and see live entertainment in the summer months, our latest survey of 1,000+ U.S. consumers showed something different. 

In fact, 58% of U.S. adults surveyed said they are spending less on vacation and travel this summer compared to last year in order to save money. Older generations reported being even more conservative — 59% of Gen Xers and 68% Baby Boomers said they were spending less this summer. 

And, for those who are spending more, the majority are planning ahead. Sixty-two percent of respondents said they save money throughout the year to accommodate higher expenses during the summer. 

On the flip side, our research shows one area where people aren’t cutting expenses: their kids. Only 13% of U.S. adults say their children are participating in fewer summer activities than last year in order to save money. Instead, nearly 1 in 4 (24%) are spending more on summer activities for their children than last year. 

To read more about how consumers spent this summer, take a look at the full research report, which also takes a deeper dive in connectivity and mobile experiences.