Was your airline flight full this past summer? How about your hotel? Same deal? But don’t let the numbers fool you… when it comes to travel, it’s all about consumer confidence in the economy, and the latest research, from Longwoods International, seems to indicate some problems in the near future.

Four in 10 travelers report there are now factors limiting or discouraging them from travel within the next 12 months.

And among those, 75% report economic certainty as a top factor. And 64% of those surveyed also said that travel is becoming too expensive. And 23% say they are planning to travel less this fall.

So what does this mean to you? In the short term, it means that a normally soft fourth quarter is about to get softer — and the result: airfares are dropping along with hotel rates. With the possible exception of the 10 day period surrounding the Thanksgiving holiday, it looks like a buyer’s market for travel throughout the rest of this year.