Despite skyrocketing travel costs, budget-conscious Americans are finding creative ways to keep vacationing without draining their bank accounts.
Jami Hagerman, a 29-year-old hairstylist from Oklahoma City, recently spent about $400 on Groupon (GRPN) mystery vacation vouchers that covered airfare and accommodations for her and her husband, with no say over the destination.
The couple was sent to New Orleans, where they visited museums, took walking tours, and sampled the city’s famous beignet dessert, coming away satisfied with the deal.
“I feel like the value was great for the trip,” Hagerman said. “It was fun.”
Groupon expanded its initial mystery vacation offering for North America into a full portfolio, which recorded around 5,500 orders in the second quarter of 2026, a more than five-fold increase compared with when it had only a flagship product in the first quarter of 2025.
The flagship package ranges from $199 to $299 per person depending on the departing airport, advertised as carrying a 50% discount, with most participants sent to domestic destinations like Las Vegas, Atlanta, or Orlando.
Gas prices have jumped roughly 30% on an annual basis and are pacing for a record high on Labor Day, according to AAA, while airline fares surged more than 25% year over year as of July, per Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Lower-income consumers, those earning under $36,675 annually, spent more monthly on travel earlier this year than at any point since at least 2019, according to PNC card data analyzed exclusively by CNBC, with July spending rising 7% from a year ago.
Hostelworld (HSW-GB), a booking platform for low-cost stays, reported that transactions from U.S. and Canadian consumers increased 10% in the first half of 2026 compared with the same period a year prior.
At Carnival Corp. (CCL), demand for cruises in the remainder of 2026 and beyond is tracking stronger than the prior-year comparison periods, with revenue in its on-board spending segment jumping more than 7% year over year in its fiscal second quarter.
“We’re somewhat recession-resilient,” said David Bernstein, Carnival’s finance chief. “We do very well in good times and bad.”
Bernstein noted that roughly half of the U.S. population lives within a five-hour drive of a Carnival departure port, allowing budget travelers to skip costly airfares entirely when planning a cruise vacation.
Expedia (EXPE) reported in June that searches using budget filters have climbed more than 1,200% compared with 12 months ago, while Vrbo noted a 16% year-over-year rise in users booking stays within two weeks, signaling a hunt for last-minute deals.
Brian LeBlanc, PNC’s senior economist, said that even when consumers push through and pay elevated prices, the sticker shock is weighing on their confidence, with the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment survey coming in 11% lower in August than a year ago.
“They’re going on Expedia, they’re putting in the airline, they’re seeing the eye-popping number, and they’re feeling bad about it, but they’re still paying for it,” LeBlanc said. “People are still swiping the cards, but that doesn’t mean they’re feeling good about it.”
Tarik Dogru, an associate professor at Florida State University’s hospitality school, argued that the postpandemic “revenge travel” phenomenon has evolved into a permanent behavioral shift rather than a temporary trend.
Travel is “not a luxury anymore,” Dogru said. “It became a necessity.”
Hagerman said she is already considering purchasing another Groupon mystery vacation, hoping only that her next trip takes her somewhere other than New Orleans, a city she has now visited twice.
“I’m really not that picky,” Hagerman said. “I just feel fortunate that we got to go anywhere.”
