NEW YORK, July 30 -- U.S. airports are reporting record travel, and analysts say vacationers plan to spend more on their trips, even as higher gas prices, interest rates and food costs are pinching their everyday spending, reported USA Today on Tuesday.

"About 60 percent of Americans plan to take a summer trip this year, roughly the same as last year, travel experts say. But the same time, 60 percent of Americans think the U.S. economy in a recession, according to a new poll," said the report.

Experts say a typical American family going on summer vacation knows it's more expensive but they're still going by cutting back elsewhere or saving longer, according to the newspaper.

"The fact that people are still prioritizing travel is a wallet-share shift: they are prioritizing travel, and that's a structural shift to Americans prioritizing experiences, how they want to spend their time," Mike Daher, a longtime travel analyst at consulting firm Deloitte, was quoted as saying. "The pandemic was a reminder that life is short, and that people are wanting to prioritize time with loved ones and new experiences."

Meanwhile, the rising prices are hitting lower-income families the hardest, with about 19 percent of households earning 50,000 U.S. dollars or less planning to travel this summer, down from 31 percent last year.

About 32 percent of Americans said they don't take any vacation in any given year because they are "too busy," according to Expedia's 24th annual Vacation Deprivation Report.

  - Xinhua