Survey: Americans Using Tax Refunds for Travel

(EndPlay Staff Reports) - A new survey predicts that more than half of Americans will use at least some of their tax returns on travel.

Travel Leaders' nationwide consumer travel survey stated that 57.4 percent will use some of the money for vacation travel. The study also showed that 84 percent of people polled indicate they will spend the same or more on leisure trips in 2011 as compared to last year, according to a press release .

Almost 36 percent said more trips, about 51 percent said the same and 13.3 percent said fewer trips.

Travel Leaders, part of the Travel Leaders Group North American travel company, said the ultimate "dream trip" is Australia. That's followed by Italy, Greece, Tahiti and Germany.

"It is clear that when Americans dream about travel, they dream big," Roger E. Block, the president of Travel Leaders Franchise Group, told the Los Angeles Times . "Australia continues to be the ultimate dream international destination."

USA Today suggested this could be partly because of Oprah Winfrey's much-publicized trip to Australia. The newspaper refers to Tourism Australia chief Andrew McEvoy, who told the Sydney Morning Herald that a poll of 1,000 American Oprah viewers and 200 non-Oprah viewers showed 61 percent of respondents aware of Oprah's trip had already considered traveling to Australia.

As far as those traveling in the United States, Travel Leader said the top state visited is likely to be Florida, followed by California and New York. Top three in 2010 were Florida, California and Wisconsin.

For those planning short trips, the blog MoneyControl.com published a top ten list of three-day, short-distance destinations provided by online travel adviser Cheapflights. Top of the list was Los Angeles to San Francisco, followed by Seattle to Las Vegas and Denver to Jackson Hole, Wyoming.