As the summer of 2023 progresses, consumers continue to shift their spending from goods to services. There is still room to grow as the share of spending on services is not fully recovered from 2019. The public continues to shrug off inflation, interest rates, slowing wage growth and tight credit standards to prioritize in-person experiences. According to AAA, 50.7 million Americans will travel this Independence Day weekend. If their forecast is correct, it will be a new record for the holiday, and likely pass the prior high of 49 million travelers set in 2019.
To support the data, Delta Airline CEO Ed Bastian commented at their Investor Day, “demand as you know, as anyone that’s traveling knows, is off the chain.” When traveling to their destinations, consumers may experience some incredible interior design through the hotels, museums, restaurants, shops, conventions, showrooms, and stores. Many of these projects are entered into the Hospitality-Public space category of the Starnet Design Awards.