Feature: Americans' summer holidays overshadowed by slow, unequal economic recovery

After a long bitter cold winter, Diane Martinez, a research project director at George Washington University, is finally planning a week-long summer holiday to Oregon and California in August to attend a good friend's wedding and celebrate her mother's retirement.

"Summer travel is very important to me," she said, "I view summer travel as an opportunity to recharge, reconnect with friends and family, to celebrate the past year, and to gain perspective by experiencing new cultures."

Like Martinez, 85 percent of Americans, or 198 million, are planning getaways as a reward for their hard work in the next few months, 13 percent higher than 2014, according to a latest research of the American Express Spending and Saving Tracker.

However, their passion for summer holidays has been dampened and overshadowed by a tighter budget due to the slow and unequal economic recovery of the United States from the 2008 financial crisis.

Despite their strong will to enjoy a summer vacation, Americans have become more frugal compared with last year, average spending per person is expected to be reduced to 1,005 U.S. dollars this year from 1,246 dollars in 2014, said the research whose online survey covered 1,502 adults, including the general U.S. population, as well as an affluent demographic defined by a minimum annual household income of 100,000 U.S. dollars.

The survey found that 91 percent of Americans will take some strategies to reduce summer vacation cost, such as using points and rewards from loyalty programs to offset the cost of travel. And 77 percent plan to travel within the United States this year, an increase of 40 percent from 2011. Also 46 percent of the respondents visit at least five websites before booking their tickets, up 12 percent from 2014.

Martinez said she will spend less this year compared with her last summer's trip to France. The air fare to Paris alone cost her 1,300 U.S. dollars. "I am in a doctoral program and had to pay tuition, room, and board," she explained.

"To save money on our trip this summer, my mom and I have done price comparisons for flights using Expedia and Kayak," she said. She has made a money-saving plan from fights, car rental to accommodation and food, including sharing a rented house with other attendees for her friend's wedding, joining a local wine tour instead of renting a car to drive around in Napa Valley and San Francisco and enjoying home-cooked meals instead of going to restaurants.

To save money for vacation is an epitome that Americans are changing their consumer behavior gradually after the financial crisis in 2008.

"After years of spending as if there were no tomorrow, consumers are now saving like there is a tomorrow," Richard Moody, chief economist at Regions Financial Corp, wrote to clients in March.

"Before the (financial) crisis, my family and I live on credit cards, now we have become very cautious about spending and we save enough money that can cover three-to-five month living cost," said Richard White, 60, who works at the reception of a commercial apartment.

"Only the wealthiest in the nation, who always have enough money in their pockets, can keep their lifestyle after the financial crisis, while normal people do spend less because they have less to spend," said Sally Slowenski, a single mother working in Bates College, a private arts college located in Lewiston in the state of Maine.

Slowenski has become more careful with spending on vacations compared with the time before the crisis. She said "When everything is getting more expensive and my salary stays flat, I have less leeway for vacations."

Martinez also believed Americans are still recovering from the economic crisis. She said that "It has taken longer for some of my friends to find full-time jobs. One friend has had to do full-time temporary work for a year and a half and hasn't been able to find a full-time position with benefits."

Although the financial crisis has ended for years, it's still hard for Americans to get rid of the crisis mood completely. A latest survey of How Housing Matters conducted by the MacArthur Foundation showed that 61 percent of Americans believe the country is "still in the middle" of the housing crisis, and 20 percent fear "the worst is yet to come."

Analysts believed such pessimistic mood largely comes from the slow and unequal economic recovery after the financial crisis, as the income growth for middle-class families grew quite slowly, while expenditures on housing, higher education and medical care have kept rising quickly.

In the past four years, the U.S. annual average economic growth rate is about 2 percent, much lower than the average growth level of 3 to 4 percent before the crisis. The U.S. economy shrank 0.2 percent in the first quarter this year, the third quarterly contraction since mid-2009.

In addition to the lower growth rate, most recovery results have been obtained by richest families. From 2005 to 2012, 60.6 percent of economic growth has been acquired by the 20 percent of richest families, while 27.6 percent fell into the hands of the 5 percent of richest families. The 40 percent of poorest families have only got 6.6 percent of economic growth during this period, according to a report issued by the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

The U.S. Federal Reserve's ultra-low interest rate and quantitative easing policies have also helped widen wealth inequality in the United States, said Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate in economics and a professor with the Columbia University in his recent paper published by the U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research.

"In our simple model, a lowering of interest rates benefits holders of equity -- the capitalists -- but hurts holders of government bonds, disproportionately life-cycle savers, and thus increases inequality," Stiglitz said.

Meanwhile, the U.S. house prices have picked up very quickly after the crisis. In the past two years the growth rate of the house prices is 13 times faster than the increase rate of family income, according to a report issued in March by RealtyTrac, a real estate information company based in Irvine, California.

The cost to go to college, a gateway to the middle class, has also become more and more expensive and hard to bear for young people and normal families. The average annual tuition has increased by 10 times compared to 1978, four times higher than the inflation during the same period. The balance of student loans has reached 1.12 trillion dollars till the first half of 2014, the second largest debt for U.S. families after house loan.

The Americans also have to bear more expensive medical care. From 2004 to 2013, the U.S. health spending has always been growing faster than the income growth and this trend will last to 2019, said PWC health research institute in its June report.

The slow economic recovery, however, is still raising some Americans future expectations. Richard White said he plans to spend more for this year's summer travel as his younger son will graduate from college this year and his economic burden will be eased. And the U.S. economy has become "more stable" in his eyes.

Martinez also hoped she can find a better-paying job after she graduates from the doctoral program, which will enable her to save more money for "big purchases such as buying a home, and have the freedom to travel." Endite