Americans who can’t afford vacations aren’t letting tight budgets get in their way

Broke Americans are not letting budget constraints get in the way of a good vacation.

Even though 47% of Americans said they can’t afford a vacation this year, 49% said they are likely to travel anyway, according to Allianz Partners USA’s 16th annual Vacation Confidence Index.

It is part of an increasing trend of travelers who justify spending money they don’t have on a vacation, making it a “justi-vacation” or “justication.”

Ryann Checchi, 32, is heading to Lisbon, Porto and Barcelona on Sunday though she can’t foot the bill.

The PR pro said she feels justified in traveling despite her budget constraints because she “needed it — mentally more than anything.”

“I needed something to look forward to and that alone justifies it for me,” the Phoenix resident added. “I’d rather be on a budget for a month when I get home, if needed, for a lifetime of memories with girlfriends and happiness.”

Some 36% of American summer travelers said they were willing to go into debt to pay for a vacation, an April Bankrate survey found. That was up from a month prior when 27% said they’d take on debt to travel.

Social media stoking fears of missing out; feeling “burnt out”; and US politics were the main reasons vacationers are willing to throw financial caution to the wind, said travel agent Nicole Cueto.

“Given the state of affairs in the U.S. surrounding politics and the election, people are using this to explore other countries to see what other options are out there,” Cueto said.

With no cash in the bank, travelers are relying on credit cards to fund their adventures, with the majority indicating they planned to use a credit card to pay for at least part of the tab, NerdWallet’s summer travel survey found.

But 20% of them “won’t pay off the expenses in full within the first billing statement,” according to the late July survey.