Rising airfares, shrinking capacity, and aggravating security protocols have all made travel increasingly expensive and complicated.

It’s almost a miracle that anyone leaves their house these days.

But despite these obstacles, some analysts are noting that Americans are maintaining a surprisingly rosy outlook on travel. At least that’s what industry analysts are saying.

Ypartnership and Harrison Group just released their annual New Portrait of American Travelers, a survey of 2,500 U.S. households who have taken at least one overnight trip of 75 miles or more from home in the past 12 months.

The U.S. median household income in 2008 was $50,303, so the survey collected last February reveals some interesting trends in the average American’s preferences toward travel.

According to the report, travelers took an average of four leisure trips in a year, which is comparable to previous years.

Sixty-seven percent of respondents plan to take the same number of trips they took last year with the number of travelers planning to take more trips increasing 16 percent versus the previous year.

This report of increased desire to travel comes in spite of little change in consumer outlook towards the economic climate.

Find out how hotels are doing: CEO Bill Marriott & Hotel Industry News

The University of Michigan publishes a monthly Consumer Sentiment Index that tracks consumer’s economic expectations and future spending behavior.

The index aggregates dozens of variables, such as willingness to buy vehicles and housing, into a numerical score. At the height of the dotcom bubble, the index stood above 100.

The survey revealed that consumer sentiment, then 73.6, has remained relatively unchanged same since last September’s 73.5 and only marginally higher than the previous May’s 68.7.

However, the University reports that in May, the buying plans for vehicles of consumers with incomes over $75,000 rose to their most favorable level in nearly five years and purchase plans for household durables rose to their best reading in two and a half years.

Previous declines in travel have forced travel providers, like airports, to get creative: Airport Competition Heats Up as Passenger Traffic Falls

In this way, the stats from Michigan’s index falls in line with the findings from Ypartnership and Harrison.

If people are opening up their wallets to spend more on big-ticket items; it makes sense that they are also more willing to spend more on vacation travel.

However, the reasoning behind the sustained travel spending might have less to do with hard economics and more to do with a growing culture of deal seeking.

Of all respondents to the New Portrait of American Travelers, 36 percent reported using deals and special offers, and 35 percent reported waiting for items to go on sale more than they did in the previous year.

In addition, 66 percent reported using an online travel agency site like Expedia, Travelocity or Orbitz, and another 15 percent reported using Kayak.com or Dealbase.com to book travel.

Find out how to save on travel in our Budget Travel section

These sites automate what used to be the difficult task of finding the lowest price on airfare and hotels. By having easy access to resources to find low-cost travel, consumers are likely being lured into parting with their money for a perceived great deal, despite their pessimistic attitudes towards the economic climate.

Again, this spending behavior is at least somewhat corroborated by May’s Consumer Spending Index that reveals, “the gains  in household and vehicle spending were contingent on the availability of price discounts—two-thirds of high income households mentioned price discounts for vehicles and nearly half for durables.”

As Peter has said since the early days of the recession, Americans consider travel a right, not a privilege. Travel is in our cultural DNA, and we’re going to keep on doing it, regardless of economic constraints. We may stay closer to home, go for shorter periods and seek out value-laden deals, but we’re going to do whatever it takes to get out there and travel.

By Fernando Padilla for PeterGreenberg.com.

Sources: University of Michigan, YPartnership

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