AAA has projected the number of Americans traveling this Labor Day holiday weekend will increase 9.9% from 2009, with approximately 34.4 million travelers taking a trip at least 50 miles away from home. Last year, 31.3 million Americans traveled during the Labor Day holiday. The 2010 Labor Day holiday travel period is defined as Thursday, September 2 to Monday, September 6.

“While media reports on the state of the U.S. economy are mixed, many Americans are still interested in taking one more trip as the summer travel season comes to a close,” said Glen MacDonell, director, AAA Travel Services. “It is encouraging to see more Americans planning to travel to visit family, friends and exciting vacation destinations.”

The increase in travel for Labor Day appears to be the result of economic improvement over the past year. While job growth has been disappointing, gross domestic product, household net worth and consumer confidence have increased, while consumer debt has decreased. The U.S. travel industry began to gain traction in the fourth quarter of 2009 and that momentum has continued this year.

In addition to economic data, the date of the Labor Day holiday is another variable considered in the forecast. The earlier the holiday falls in September, the more travel tends to occur. Although the growth in Labor Day travel is predicted to be strong at 9.9%, had the holiday fallen earlier in the month the forecasted number of travelers would likely be even higher.

Air and car trips to increase

Trips by automobile are expected to increase in popularity with 91% of travelers, or 31.4 million people, reaching their destination by driving. This is an increase of 10.3% from last Labor Day when 28.5 million travelers went by motor vehicle. Barring any major tropical storm activity in the Gulf Coast region, AAA expects the national average price of self-serve regular gasoline to be between $2.65 and $2.75 per gallon during this holiday weekend. Leisure air travel is expected to account for just five percent of overall travel with 1.62 million holiday flyers. This is an increase of 4.6% from one year ago when 1.54 million flew. Trips by other modes, including rail, bus and watercraft, will be the dominant means of travel used by four percent of all travelers.

Median spending increases; average distance traveled decreases

Based on a survey of traveler intentions, the average distance traveled by Americans this Labor Day holiday weekend is expected to be 635 miles, slightly less than one year ago (645 miles). Median spending is expected to be $697 this Labor Day, nearly $50 more than last year when median spending was estimated at $650. Dining (63%); shopping (47%) and visiting with friends and relatives (43%) were named as the three top primary activities by travelers this Labor Day weekend.

Airfares, hotel and rental car rates increase over holiday compared to 2009

According to AAA’s Leisure Travel Index, airfares over the Labor Day holiday weekend are expected to increase nine percent from last year with the lowest round-trip rates moving up to $179 for the top 40 U.S. air routes. Weekend daily car rental rates will increase seven percent to an average of $46. Hotel rates for AAA Three Diamond lodgings are expected to increase six percent from a year ago with travelers spending an average of $139 per night compared to $132 last year. Travelers planning to stay at AAA Two Diamond hotels can expect to pay two percent more at an average cost of $102 per night.

[Source:  "AAA / IHS Global Insight 2010 Labor Day holiday forecast."  AAA/ IHS Global Insight.  25 Aug. 2010.  Web.  26 Aug. 2010.]

For decades, marketers of cosmetics and skin care solutions positioned their products for mature women as being suitable for the 40+ age group. As Baby Boomers aged, marketers began talking to women in the 50+ age group. And as female Baby Boomers have indicated a continued interest in spending money to look their best, more marketers are  seeing a niche for women in the next decade – 60+.

David B. Wolfe, head of Wolfe Resources Group,  recently told MediaPost that “since 1989, the majority of women in the U.S. have been over the age of 40, and yet through most of that time the cosmetics industry has focused on younger and younger women.”  As the number of women over age 40 continues to grow, marketers like Avon are making changes. Later this year, the company will use Jacqueline Bisset to promote its new ANEW Platinum line of skin care products which is designed specifically for consumers over age 60. Avon isn’t alone in targeting this demographic. A quick review of any consumer magazine shows beauty companies vying for the attention of Boomer women by using icons such as Ellen Degeneres and Diane Keaton.

Wolfe notes that using age as the only demographic trait to position beauty products can be difficult to pull off. “There has to be some kind of values that resonate, and it’s very hard to predict,” he says. The Boomers, after all, are members of the generation that promised never to grow old. But as more 60+ women buy products to help them look their best, marketers have an opportunity to reach out and make them feel important and valued. The strategy should result in increased sales.

[Sources: Avon Products. 23 Aug. 2010. Web. 1 Sept. 2010; Mahoney, Sarah. Avon Launches 60-Plus Skincare Line. MarketingDaily. 24 Aug. 2010. Web. 1 Sept. 2010]

In 1970, Marian McQuade began a campaign to set aside a special day just for grandparents. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed the first presidential proclamation, designating the first Sunday after Labor Day as National Grandparents Day. The first official observance was Sept. 9, 1979 — and has been celebrated every year since.

In 1989, the U.S. Postal Service honored McQuade with a commemorative envelope bearing her likeness to acknowledge the tenth anniversary of the holiday. McQuade, sadly, passed away last year at the age of of 91. She was the mother of 15, the grandmother of 43, and the great-grandmother of 15.

On September 12, 2010, Grandparents Day will reach its 31th anniversary. Like Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, it’s a time for family celebration, and a chance to honor the important role grandparents play in children’s lives.

In the original proclamation, President Carter wrote that because grandparents “are usually free to love and guide and befriend the young without having to take daily responsibility for them, they can often reach out past pride and fear of failure and close the space between generations.”

Today, though, an increasing number of grandparents have actually assumed daily responsibility for their grandchildren. According to AARP, 4.5 million children are being raised in households headed by grandparents. For those kids and millions of others, grandparents create special relationships and impart lessons that last a lifetime. As Carter wrote, “Grandparents are our continuing tie to the near-past, to the events and beliefs and experiences that so strongly affect our lives and the world around us.”

Other important facts:

• 2.6 million – The number of grandparents responsible for most of the basic needs (i.e., food, shelter, clothing) of one or more of the grandchildren who lived with them in 2008. These grandparents represented about 41% of all grandparents whose grandchildren lived with them. Of these caregivers, 1.6 million were grandmothers, and 983,000 were grandfathers.

• 19% – Percentage of grandparents who were caring for their grandchildren and whose income was below the poverty level. This represents 493,000 grandparents.

• $46,906 – Median income for families with grandparent-caregiver householders. If a parent of the grandchildren was not present, the median dropped to $34,782.

• 977,000 – Number of grandparents responsible for caring for their grandchildren for at least the past five years.

• 1.9 million – The number of grandparent-caregivers who were married.

• 1.6 million – The number of grandparents who were in the labor force and also responsible for most of the basic needs of their grandchildren.

• 655,000 – Number of grandparents with a disability who were caring for their grandchildren.

• 72% – Among grandparents who cared for their grandchildren, the percentage who lived in an owner-occupied home.

• 7 million – The number of children living with a grandparent in 2009; these children comprised 9% of all children in the United States. Of these children, 4.5 million, lived in the grandparent’s home.

• 2.7 million – The number of children who lived with both a grandmother and a grandfather in 2009.

• 30% – Among children younger than 5 whose mothers worked outside the home, the percentage cared for on a regular basis by a grandparent during their mother’s working hours in 2005.

[Source:  "Celebrate Grandparents Day."  Grandparents.com. n.d.  Web.  26 Aug. 2010; U.S. Census Bureau Facts for Features: Grandparents Day.  U.S. Census Bureau. 12 Jul. 2010.  Web.  26 Aug. 2010.]

America’s twenty-somethings, known as the Millennial generation or generation Y, are connected, confident, and tend to live in the moment when it comes to making food choices, reports The NPD Group, a leading market research company. According to recent NPD food market research, Millennials are more likely to say their food choices at main meals are motivated by cravings, cost control, and minimal preparation time.

According to NPD’s National Eating Trends, which has continually tracked America’s eating behaviors for 30 years, Millennials’ food selections indicate a here-today-gone tomorrow mentality. They are much more likely than consumers in other age groups to use frozen entrees or other food items that are portable and do not require preparation. As with most of these food offerings, there is usually little opportunity for leftovers, which correlates to their relatively low rate of leftover usage.  “National Eating Trends” reports that a typical Millennial has 68 meals a year that contain a leftover item, but adults in their 30s to early 40s are using leftovers in 82 meals a year.

In addition to convenience, cost control is a major motivation for Millennials, and frozen food and other convenience-oriented food products often provide relatively inexpensive meal solutions.

“Cost concern is particularly important to this age group since they have been among the hardest hit by the recession,” says Darren Seifer, food and beverage industry analyst for The NPD Group. “The unemployment rate for adults under 30 was 19.5% for the second quarter of 2010, a rate more than double the 9.5% seen for the total workforce.”

Millennials are coping with their economic challenges by making use of low-priced retailers.  “National Eating Trends” finds that one-third of Millennials use mass merchants, such as Walmart, as their primary food store, compared to 23% for all adults.

“The Millennial generation has grown up in a time of tremendous technological advances, coupled with new societal norms,” says Seifer. “They are connected like no other generation before them. This connectedness is both an opportunity and challenge for marketers. Communicating with – and selling to – Millennials requires an understanding of their attitudes and behaviors.”

[Source:  "National Eating Trends."  The NPD Group. 11 Aug. 2010.  Web.  25 Aug. 2010.]