New Study: Airport Screening Deemed Insufficient by Large Segment of Travelers

Nearly half of American leisure travelers feel that airport passenger screening techniques are inadequate. In the national State of the American Traveler survey conducted this week by Destination Analysts, 47 percent of American leisure travelers reported they either "Agreed" or "Strongly agreed" that airport screening techniques were not sufficient. Only one-in-five travelers believe that passenger screening is adequate.

Travelers are also seven times more likely to prefer full-body scanning technology versus pat downs at security checkpoints. In a follow-up question, Destination Analysts discovered that the majority (57%) of travelers are either "Comfortable" or "Extremely comfortable" with the use of such technologies--with only about 16 percent being "Uncomfortable" or "Extremely uncomfortable" with full-body scans.

Other notable early findings of the study include Americans' expectations for their future travel and spending appears to be on the mend. 33 percent expect to increase the number of leisure trips they will take in the coming year, up from 28 percent last July. Meanwhile, only 14 percent of American leisure travelers expect to cut back on their travel, compared with 20 percent last July. Similar improvements were seen in expectations for spending on leisure travel, with both areas approaching 2008 pre-recession levels.

"We expect to see modest increases in domestic leisure travel and spending in the upcoming year," says Erin Francis-Cummings, Managing Partner of Destination Analysts. "Despite economic pressures and security threats and uncertainty, Americans are more upbeat about their travel prospects than they were six months ago."

The State of the American Traveler survey is conducted every six months by Destination Analysts. The Winter 2010 survey was conducted online amongst a nationally representative sample of adult Americans. From January 5th-6th, surveys were collected from persons who had traveled at least once in the past 12 months for leisure. In total, 1,011 travelers completed the survey, which has a reliability of +/- 3.1%.

ABOUT DESTINATION ANALYSTS: Destination Analysts is a San Francisco-based market research company specializing in the travel, tourism and lifestyle industries. Founded in 2003, the company provides research solutions to organizations charged with growing the economic impact of tourism to their business or community.