Young adults are leading America's vacationing boom

Americans are taking vacations again, thanks mostly to the aggressive pursuit of free time by young adults.

A new survey from travel industry research group Phocuswright showed that nearly three in four 18-to-34 year-olds traveled for “leisure.”

Among 18-to-24 year-olds, leisure time travel incidence reached a post-recession high of 71 percent, up 3 percentage points from 2013. That’s tied for the biggest jump among all age groups (35-44 year-olds also saw a 3-point increase, to 70 percent).

The results were based on 2,010 qualified responses. Here’s the chart:

Leisure travel rates among all Americans reached a post-recession high of 66 percent last year, the group found.

Other data support these findings. Airbnb’s listings and annual nearly tripled from 2013 to 2014, and Jan Freitag, senior vice president of hotel data group STR recently told Slate’s Alison Griswold that the number of hotel rooms under construction was up 21 percent.

“U.S. leisure travelers are spending with pre-recession confidence again,” Marcello Gasdia, director for consumer research at Phocuswright, said in a statement. “Big family trips are back in numbers and more of them continue to put passports to good use. The whole picture looks very promising for the U.S. travel industry in 2016.”

Rob covers business, economics and the environment for Fusion. He previously worked at Business Insider. He grew up in Chicago.