Americans still plan to travel abroad in ‘08

The weak U.S. dollar has not dissuaded Americans who travel from planning trips abroad this year, but they may be heading to destinations closer to home, a survey released today by Visa Inc. found.

Two-thirds of respondents said they were as willing or more willing to travel abroad compared with a year ago, and half said they were likely to travel abroad in the next year. Of that half, two-thirds said they were considering destinations closer to the U.S. than they have in years past.

In mid-May, Visa surveyed 1,000 credit card and debit card holders in the United States who had traveled outside the U.S. in the last three years. The phone survey, which was not limited to Visa card holders, had a margin of error of plus-or-minus three percentage points.

Canada was the most popular international destination among respondents, followed closely by Mexico. Britain, Italy, France, the Bahamas and the U.S. Virgin Islands rounded out the top destinations to visit.

The rankings are similar to last year’s when, based on tourist spending on U.S.-issued Visa cards instead of a survey, Visa found that Canada was the leading destination with $2.9 billion in spending, followed by Mexico, where cardholders spent $1.7 billion.

“While travel close to home remains strong, what’s interesting [is that] travel destinations like Western Europe and the Caribbean are still popular,” Visa spokesman Paul Wilke said.

In the first quarter this year, U.S. Visa card holders spent $3.4 billion while visiting the top 25 tourist destinations abroad, compared with more than $15 billion in all of 2007.