What Spring Break Travel Looks Like Amid Declining Trust

You don’t have to be a college student to eagerly await spring break. Every year, the travel industry looks forward to the time frame as a big boost for the sector, and a potential bellwether of the year to come. Morning Consult data from travelers who planned to take a trip in the spring break period in 2025  reveal what’s to come this year, and how it may look different than last year.

Spring break travelers are skewing younger, higher income

Travelers who take a trip during spring break often fit a certain demographic — specifically, college students who are on a short respite from classes, and parents who are hoping to take advantage of their kids’ school vacation to get away. But while this has long been the case, the demographic differences are even more pronounced in 2025. 

While the share of Gen Zers (who make up the majority of the college student population) who said they planned to travel in spring ticked up slightly between 2024 and 2025, there was more growth amongst millennials, who are 4 points more likely to travel this year than last. While that is on the edge of the margin of error, it also mirrors growth amongst parents, who are 5 points more likely to say they’re traveling. Taken together, this suggests that parents of school-aged children are at the very least holding steady in their intent compared with last year, if not expressing more interest in traveling.

With general travel intent softening into 2025, the growth, however small, amongst these groups highlights the importance of seasonal spikes in maintaining momentum for the industry.

Notably, there has also been a slight shift across income levels, with lower earners less likely to say they’ll travel in the spring break window this year than they were last, and intent amongst middle and high-earners ticking up slightly within the margin of error. While again, this may reflect more consistency than major growth, it is a positive sign for the industry in the face of potential headwinds this year.

Hotels stand to benefit from increased bookings

Spring break may conjure up images of a very specific type of trip, but the reality is that travelers who plan to get away during this window have varying approaches. While road trips in a personal car are the most common approach, for example, traveling by plane during this period has been on the rise, and is up 6 points compared with the same window in 2023. Some of that may be driven by spring breakers’ comfort with going further away: the share that said they’d travel internationally is up 4 points year over year.

Renting a car and taking a train have also grown in popularity, though they still pale in comparison to flying or using one’s own car.

Compared with transportation, accommodation preferences have seen bigger shifts since 2024. The share of spring break travelers who said that they would stay in a vacation rental increased 6 points year over year, and 10 points overall since 2023, reflecting overall growth in the category. 

But an even larger increase has occurred amongst those planning to stay at a chain hotel, up 11 points since 2023, with the majority of that growth happening between 2024 and 2025. Given the industry has predicted modest growth overall in 2025, this spike may reflect the importance of attracting travelers during key travel periods throughout the year to balance out deeper downturns during off-peak times.

Spring break travel is happening at a time of wavering trust

While the data point to a positive spring break travel period, brands must understand that the annual bump in travel is happening at a time when consumers’ faith has been shaken in the industry. In the wake of major airline incidents, the net share of U.S. adults who say they trust airlines and airports (in other words, the share who say they trust minus the share who say they do not) declined by 8 and 9 points respectively between January and February. But the trust issues aren’t confined to air travel — they’ve had ripple effects in other areas of the industry as well. Net trust in independent hotels is down 4 points, while chain hotels are down by 3 and vacation rentals have declined by 2.

Crucially for travel brands, Gen Zers and millennials — in other words, likely spring break travelers — exhibit lower net trust across the industry. Net trust for airports is 31 for Gen Zers and 40 for millennials (compared to 42 for all adults), and trust in airlines is 33 for Gen Z and 35 for millennials (compared to 40).  

Typically trust increases as consumers have more exposure to a particular industry, so the spring break travel bump could serve to bolster travelers’ faith in the sector. At the same time, if trust is wavering in the first place, any misstep or poor interaction with a travel brand or company may have a deeper impact on a consumer, resulting in longer-term issues. Brands must be sure to overdeliver in this time to win back the faith of uncertain spring breakers.

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