Foreign Affairs: Expedia and Tinder Study American Attitudes Towards Travel and Romance

BELLEVUE, Wash. and LOS ANGELES, June 18, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Expedia.com®, one of the world's largest full service travel sites*, and Tinder, the world's most popular app for meeting new people, today announced the results of a collaborative study to determine how travel and romance intersect for Americans. The 2015 Foreign Affairs Study was commissioned by Expedia® and Tinder and conducted by GfK, an independent global market research company.

GfK asked 1,000 Americans a range of questions about travel and romance, including how early in a relationship they would consider taking an overnight vacation, which destination features they would prioritize on their first trip away, how willing they would be to vacation with a partner's parents and where the most attractive dating populations reside.

The full Expedia/Tinder 2015 Foreign Affairs Study can be found here on the Expedia® Viewfinder blog. In addition to this, Expedia and Tinder also launched a Match Made in Travel game that allows users to swipe right on their favorite locations and get paired with their ideal destination match. Check out the game here.

In March, Tinder introduced Passport as a part of its premium subscription offering. Passport gives Tinder Plus subscribers the ability to change their location to connect with people anywhere around the world by dropping a pin on a map or searching by city. From there, they can begin swiping, matching and chatting with Tinder users in any destination. Passport is helpful when planning vacations and business trips or simply expanding one's social network. 

"We've long known that travel and romance are tightly linked. Expedia and Tinder together decided to look a little deeper, to see what travel behaviors are considered appropriate at different stages of a relationship, from the first few weeks to the parenting years," said John Morrey, vice president and general manager, Expedia.com. "For one, we learned that an overnight vacation is considered acceptable pretty early in the dating process. We also learned that once people have children, they don't want to travel without them. A third of Americans feel that children – their own children, of course – make the travel experience even more enjoyable."

Los Angeles the Top Dating Pool, Paris Preferred for Proposals
Fifty-nine percent of Americans who said they would be "more likely" to use an app, such as Tinder, to connect with new people, said they would do so on vacation with friends, versus 33% who would use such an app when on a solo vacation.

When asked which cities offered the most attractive dating pools, most Americans (37%) selected Los Angeles from a list of more than 20 of the world's most visited citied. Rio de Janeiro came in a close second (36%), followed by Paris (34%), Miami (32%) and Rome (32%). The "least attractive" dating population, out of a list of those same cities, was said to live in Istanbul (26%), followed by Seoul (25%) and Hong Kong (24%).

Paris, France, was chosen by 46% of Americans as the ideal city  for proposing marriage, followed by Rome (40%) and to a lesser extent, Barcelona (22%), New York City (21%) and Sydney (20%).

Have Partner, Will Travel
The Expedia/Tinder study revealed that 30% of Americans would be willing to go on a weekend getaway with their significant other within 1-3 months of the relationship's start. Fourteen percent would be willing to do so within the first month, while 16% would wait more than a year. The average is about six months. When taking that first vacation, "good restaurants" are considered the most important destination feature, cited by 88% of Americans. Eighty-two percent selected "sightseeing/tourist attractions" and 80% prioritized "a room with a view." A fireplace was considered least critical, cited as important by only 35% of Americans.

When asked how soon into a relationship they would be willing to travel with their partner's family, 36% - the largest percentage – said they would wait more than a year. Five percent said they would travel with their partner's family within the first month and 9% within the first three months. Twelve percent of Americans said they would "expect" their significant other's family to pay their way.

Further, GfK asked Americans how early in a relationship they would feel it appropriate to share a room with their partner when traveling with that partner's parents. The largest percentage (43%) again said they would expect to wait more than a year for that privilege, versus only 7% who would do so within the first month.

Americans with children expressed reluctance to travel without them. Among parents with children under 18, 9% would "never" travel without them. When asked how soon after having children the parents would be willing to leave them for a vacation, 26% said they would wait more than five years. Thirteen percent said they'd take a child-free holiday within the first year.

For parents with children under 18, 93% said they'd travel without them "within the same state." Seventy-nine percent would travel to a neighboring state. Forty-four percent of Americans would travel cross-country without their children. Twenty-six percent said they would travel internationally sans kids. In fact, one third of Americans (33%) believe travel is "more enjoyable" when experienced with their children. Twenty-three percent feel it is less enjoyable, and 42% report no meaningful difference.

Odds and Ends
According to the 2015 Foreign Affairs study:

• Nearly a full quarter (25%) of Americans indicated that they would consider honeymooning at a theme park. Eighteen percent would get engaged at a theme park, and 7% would get married at one.
• More than one in five (22%) of Americans say they would "fake their relationship status" to cadge a free upgrade on vacation.
• Thirty-eight percent of Americans would be willing to date someone who primarily spoke a different language.

About the Survey
The study was conducted online using the GfK "KnowledgePanel," an online probability-based panel designed to be representative of the US general population, not just the online population. The study consisted of 1,005 interviews conducted between June 5 - 7, 2015, among adults aged 18+. The margin of error is +/-3 percentage points.

About Expedia.com
Expedia.com is one of the world's largest full service travel sites*, helping millions of travelers per month easily plan and book travel. Expedia.com (http://www.expedia.com/, 1-800-EXPEDIA) aims to provide the latest technology and the widest selection of top vacation destinations, cheap tickets, hotel deals, car rentals, destination weddings, cruise deals and in-destination activities, attractions, services and travel apps. With the Expedia Best Price Guarantee, Expedia.com customers can get the best rates available online for all types of travel.

Expedia, Expedia.com, Expedia Viewfinder, and the Airplane logo are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Expedia, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the property of their respective owners © 2015 Expedia, Inc. All rights reserved. CST # 2029030-50

*Based on a comparison of other full-service online travel agencies, defined as those providing booking and services related to air, hotel, cruise, car and activities to a global customer base. Data based on comScore Media Metrix for Expedia, Inc. Sites, Worldwide, Average Monthly Unique Visitors, Oct '12-Sept '13.

Web site: http://www.expedia.com/

About Tinder
Launched in 2012, Tinder is the world's leading social app for meeting new people. With its global reach, people in all 196 countries around the world are swiping right to connect with others, making it a top 10 lifestyle app in more than 70 countries. In 2015, the company introduced Tinder Plus, giving users access to premium features, Rewind and Passport. Each day, 26 million matches are made on Tinder with more than six billion matches made to date.

Download Tinder for free on the App Store at https:itunes.apple.com/us/app/Tinder/id547702041?mt=8 or for Android at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tinder or visit www.gotinder.com for more information.

About GfK
GfK is one of the world's largest research companies, with more than 13,000 experts working to discover new insights into the way people live, think and shop, in over 100 markets, every day. GfK is constantly innovating and using the latest technologies and the smartest methodologies to give its clients the clearest understanding of the most important people in the world: their customers. In 2012, GfK's sales amounted to €1.51 billion. To find out more, visit www.gfk.com

GfK Public Affairs & Corporate Communications is a division of GfK. The group specializes in customized public affairs and public opinion polling, media and corporate communications research, and corporate reputation measurement in the US and globally, in addition to delivering a broad range of customized research studies.

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SOURCE Expedia.com; Tinder

Related Links

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