US household tourism expenditure and the Great Recession

Abstract

The Great Recession, which started in late 2007, has been the deepest, longest lasting economic recession since the 1930s. This article examines US household tourism expenditure patterns over the last business cycle. For this purpose, microdata drawn from the Consumer Expenditure Survey for the period 2005–2012 are analyzed. The availability of a survey covering such a long period enables the authors to test whether the determinants of (and their effect on) tourism spending have changed since the economic downturn. By applying a Heckman model, the article also examines the sensitivity of income elasticity estimates to the chosen income measure (current vs. permanent income).