Survey Data Indicates Economy and New TSA Scanners
Are Influencing Americans’ Holiday Travel Plans

« Back

Media Contacts

TeleNav-commissioned survey also finds that nearly 40 percent of Americans plan to hit the road to shop on Black Friday

Sunnyvale, Calif. – November 24, 2010—TeleNav, Inc. (NASDAQ: TNAV), one of the largest global wireless location-based services providers with more than 17 million subscribers, today released results of a survey of U.S. Residents of driving age* that indicate while most Americans plan to travel this holiday season, an overwhelming majority will be hitting the open road instead of the friendly skies. Only five percent of respondents indicated they plan to fly for their holiday travel this year, with respondents reporting that both the economy and new full-body scanners being used by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) have caused them to forego flying this season. In addition to holiday travel plans, TeleNav’s survey also examined Americans’ shopping plans as the holiday season kicks-off this week on Black Friday.

* The survey sample consisted of 527 U.S. citizens of driving age. Responses were collected via online survey during the week of November 15, 2010.

Survey Results: No Fly Zone

Seventy-three percent of survey respondents said they plan to drive to events this holiday season, five percent said they plan to fly, two percent said they plan to use another form of transportation such as a bus or train, and 20 percent said they don’t plan to travel for the holidays this year.

More than one-third of Americans who plan to drive this holiday season indicated they will travel more than 50 miles each way. Fourteen percent will drive more than 200 miles each way.

Survey Results: Times are Tough (and the TSA is Rough)

More than one-fourth of respondents who plan to drive this holiday season reported that the current state of the economy influenced their decision to drive instead of fly. Additionally, one-third of the 20 percent of Americans who don’t plan to travel at all indicated that the current state of the economy influenced their decision to stay at home this year. Of those respondents who plan to travel this season but are not flying, 13 percent indicated that the recent implementation of full-body scanners by the TSA influenced their decision to avoid flying.

Survey Results: Making the Trip for the Perfect Gift

When it comes to saving money on that perfect gift, Americans indicated they’re willing to hit the road in order to save a buck at the register. While only nine percent of respondents said they would drive more than 50 miles each way to save $50 on a gift, 23 percent indicated they would drive more than 50 miles to save $100 and 57 percent said they would drive that distance to save $500. Fifteen percent of respondents said they would drive between 100 and 200 miles each way to save $500 on a gift.

One-third of the survey respondents reported that between 51 and 100 miles is the maximum distance they would be willing to drive each way if there were only one store that had the “must have” item on their holiday shopping list. More than fifty percent of respondents said the maximum distance they would travel for their must have gift is below 50 miles each way.

Survey Results: Ready, Set, Shop

While most gifts can be found online, respondents indicated they still plan to roam the aisles of their favorite retailers this holiday season. Thirty-five percent of Americans indicated they plan to purchase more than 75 percent of their holiday gift items from a store location. Only two percent of respondents said they will buy all of their items online.

Nearly 40 percent of survey respondents said they plan to go shopping on Black Friday. Of those respondents, almost 70 percent reported that they plan out a route for the stores they want to visit prior to leaving their home. Nearly half of Black Friday shoppers plan to visit more than four stores during their shopping trip, and slightly more than 55 percent plan to arrive at the first store sometime before 6:00 a.m.

One-third of respondents who plan to shop on Black Friday indicated that items selling out quickly is the worst part of the shopping experience, followed closely by overcrowding in the retail stores.

Survey Results: Patience is a Virtue (Not During the Holidays)

While respondents indicated they’re willing to travel for the perfect gift, most aren’t willing to wait long to purchase that gift once they arrive. Only 10 percent of Americans said they would wait longer than 30 minutes for a parking spot at a store with their must have gift. Thirty-five percent said they wouldn’t wait for any length of time for a parking spot. Results are similar once respondents enter the store with only 22 percent reporting that they would wait in line for more than 30 minutes for the must have gift on their shopping list.

Syndicated Feeds and Social Networks

About TeleNav Inc.

TeleNav, Inc. is a leading provider of location based services, or LBS, including voice guided navigation, on mobile phones. TeleNav's LBS solutions provide consumers and enterprises with convenient and easy to use location specific, real time and personalized features and functions. TeleNav's flexible and proprietary LBS platform enables it to efficiently provide its LBS to millions of end users, across more than 500 types of mobile phones, all major mobile phone operating systems and a broad range of wireless network protocols. TeleNav's service providers include Alltel, AT&T, Bell Mobility, Boost Mobile, China Mobile, Cincinnati Bell, NII Holdings, Rogers, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile UK, T-Mobile USA, Telcel, Telecom Italia Mobile, Verizon Wireless and Vivo Brazil. TeleNav's other partners include Ford Motor Company, Hewlett-Packard, HTC, INRIX, LG, Motorola, NAVTEQ, Nokia, Palm, Qualcomm, Research In Motion, Samsung, Sanyo and Tele Atlas. TeleNav is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.

For more information on TeleNav, please visit www.telenav.com. Follow TeleNav on Twitter at www.twitter.com/telenav or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/telenav