With summer just around the corner and vacation plans for many well underway, now is the time when travelers will start firming up the logistics of their travel, namely, how they’ll choose to make a long-distance journey. Although there are several options to choose from, Americans are not shy about having favorite modes of transportation. Among those with an opinion 44% say they prefer to travel by car, while 38% prefer traveling by plane. In third place are the 10% who prefer long distance train travel, followed by the 6% who opt for a motorcycle and the 2% who enjoy riding the bus.
Gen Z leads in preferring both the motorcycle and the train while Baby Boomers lead in preferring plane travel. Although not surprising, income also plays a role, with low-income earners opting for trains and cars at a higher rate than all others. Meanwhile, high-income earners outpace all others in the oft-expensive plane travel.
However, this demographic data is just the beginning of what sets long-distance travelers apart. Here is what the data show:
Language Learning Apps: Those who prefer long-distance travel via motorcycle are the most likely to have used a language learning app, outpacing all others by at least 14 percentage points.
Book Preferences: While 74% of those who prefer long-distance car travel prefer to read a print book–used or new–just 69% of those who prefer plane travel say the same.
Recipe Followers: Those who prefer long-distance plane travel are the most likely to enjoy cooking from a recipe. Only 26% of those who prefer motorcycle travel say the same.
Online Review Services: More than half (54%) of those who enjoy long-distance motorcycle travel use online review services like Yelp once a week or more. Just 12% of those who prefer plane travel say the same.
Packaged Soup Consumption: While those who prefer plane travel for long distances are the least likely to eat canned or boxed soups, those who prefer motorcycle travel are the most likely (79% vs 95%).
Grocery Delivery: Those who prefer long-distance motorcycle travel are more than twice as likely as those who prefer long-distance train travel to intend to use grocery delivery (29% vs 13%).
Clearly, your preferred method of long-distance travel doesn’t just impact how you get to your vacation. It’s a preference that indicates a variety of other consumer choices across all areas of life.
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This article’s data comes solely from CivicScience’s database, which contains nearly 700,000 poll questions and 5 billion consumer insights.
