Three-in-four vacationers are planning summer road trip with their furry friends

The great American road trip has officially taken on dogs. According to a recent online travel survey from travel fare aggregator website and travel metasearch engine Orbitz, 77% of vacationers are planning to take their pets on a road trip this summer and visiting dog parks (20%) and taking selfies at tourist attractions (21%) are at the top of their to-do list. A new interactive road trip map from Orbitz ranks the seven most pet-friendly trips to plan this summer. The survey results from 2,000 US travellers revealed important considerations and destinations for pet owners.

Pet travellers go the distance

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Orbitz survey revealed that travellers will go almost any distance to please their pets. The majority of pet owners said they most want to road trip cross-country with their four-legged friends (33%) and will spend up to USD 500 extra on food, lodging and activities together (40%).

Road trip PETiquette

Travellers confessed that when it comes to their pets, they are not always great at following the rules of the road. Most drivers let their pets ride in the back seat (58%) or secure them in a crate (15%), but one-in-four travellers said their dog calls dibs on the front seat or even rides in their lap.

Celebrity road trip companions

Pet lovers tend to travel in a pack, so it’s no surprise the celebrities that travellers most wanted to join them on a cross-country trip were Miley Cyrus and her pet pig, Piggy (43%), followed by Andy Cohen and his rescue dog Wacha (20%). Political pets also fared well, with Elizabeth Warren and her golden retriever, Bailey, and Michelle Obama and Bo, the former first family’s Portuguese water dog, topping the list for most popular write-ins.