Consumers want more travel and live events this holiday season, but physical gifts still take the largest share of their spending, according to a new Visa report released Thursday.

More than half of survey respondents put travel and live events at the top of their wish lists. Only 15% of those respondents plan to prioritize spending on experiences for others, while 27% plan to favor physical gifts.

Michael Brown, Visa's principal U.S. economist, attributed the gap between desire and planned spending to higher travel costs, weaker consumer sentiment and a focus on value. "There is some interesting trade-offs there that we're seeing on the part of consumers," Brown told CNBC. "If I'm traveling more, I'm probably going to be gifting those physical goods less, so this is really the broader context."

Brown said Visa expects more people to celebrate closer to home because of rising airfares and general inflation. Airfares rose more than 22% in September compared with a year earlier, according to the consumer price index. Consumer prices overall rose 3.7% annually in September, driven by surging energy costs. Airlines have raised fares as fuel costs climbed due to the war in the Middle East, and executives have said fares are likely to stay high even if fuel prices fall.

The survey found that only households with incomes above $200,000 spent more on trips departing between Nov. 1 and early next year compared with the prior year. Brown linked that spending to the recent equity market rally, which he said has boosted that affluent group's confidence. Visa's October consumer survey found that roughly one-third of consumers earning less than $100,000 plan to switch to lower-cost brands or stores for holiday gifts.

Visa projects a 4.5% year-over-year increase in holiday sales growth. Brown said much of that figure reflects inflation. Excluding price increases, Visa expects sales to rise 1.1% this year, compared with 1.3% during the 2025 holiday season.

Brown said consumers may be reporting plans to spend more because they have grown accustomed to higher prices. "I think these numbers just need to be looked at through the lens of the inflation and particularly consumers' perception of where inflation is going to go," he said.

The survey covered roughly 4,660 U.S. adults ages 18 and older.