Analysis of the Long-Distance and Overnight Travel Tour Planning Process

For many households, long-distance and overnight travel (LDOT) requires considerably more planning and financial investment than everyday travel activities do. As LDOT occupies a larger portion of Americans’ total travel than it did in the past, it is necessary to better understand how planning for LDOT tours contributes to activity-based travel modeling. Existing studies suggest that factors associated with households, persons, and the tours themselves affect the complexity of planning for LDOT, but few studies have ever used data from a data set on the temporal process of planning for a tour over a long period of time. This study used data from a unique survey, the Longitudinal Survey of Overnight Travel, which collected information on planned and completed tours from 1,220 respondents over 1 year. This paper presents descriptive statistics and three statistical models that identify the factors that contribute to the complexity of LDOT tour planning, including the number of legs or stops on the tour, the maximum distance from home, the presence of adult friends or children on the tour, tour duration, and whether a personal vehicle was available on the tour. Other findings highlight the need for improved data collection on LDOT tour making and tour planning, including further description of the external constraints that lead to the cancellation of tour plans.