As the summer vacation travel season gets underway, fewer investors plan to travel for pleasure this summer (77 percent versus 82 percent in 2011), according to a recent survey by John Hancock Financial Services.  However, of those who are not travelling this summer, nearly four in ten plans to take a vacation at another time (38 percent).  Of those who do plan a vacation this summer, nearly six in ten (58 percent) plan to spend the same amount of money as they did last year, with 17 percent spending more and 25 percent spending less.

Domestic city destinations are by far the most popular, with 50 percent headed to a US city for tourism, while 29 percent will head to the beach and 22 percent plan an international trip.

"Americans are still proceeding with caution in spending their money on leisure activities, but it looks as though despite the challenging economic environment they are maintaining an even keel when it comes to taking time off from work," said Bill Cheney, Chief Economist for John Hancock.

The findings were drawn from the John Hancock Investor Sentiment Index™, a quarterly measure of investors' views on a range of investment choices, life goals, and economic outlook, as well as their confidence in these areas. 

Oil prices are having less of an effect on whether or not investors choose to take a summer trip. Roughly half of respondents said that oil prices had an impact on their travel destinations, but a little less than half (48 percent) said it would not affect them. Last year, 60 percent said that the oil prices were having an impact on their plans.

Half of this year's would-be travelers plan to fly to their destinations, with the other half driving.

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