In the 1950s many aviation companies were in rude health after fulfilling lucrative military contracts, and were keen to capitalise on technological advancements achieved during World War II. This industry is naturally, therefore, dominated by documents relating to commercial, civil aviation (such as Creative research memo on the psychology of air travel), and companies such as Pan American Airways and American Airlines are represented from the US, with Japan Air Lines, Air France and Lufthansa also receiving the Dichter treatment. As well as standard topics such as increasing passenger fares and researching corporate image, one interesting report looks at how in-flight entertainment can impact an airline’s success: Why people fly and don't fly and the role of in-flight entertainment - a pilot study.

Documents within this industry do not exclude other modes of travel, however, nor investigations into the psychology of holiday-making more generally (such as Brochures and holiday travel / a report on a motivational research study). Railways, Greyhound buses and steamships can be researched, as can hotel and motel chains including Marriott, Four Seasons and Holiday Inn (for example Proposal for a motivational research study on how to position Holiday Inns correctly). Some reports focus on a vacation destinations as a whole, such as Proposal for a motivational research study on promotional problems of the state of Ohio, while “A proposal for a motivational research study on American attitudes toward South Africa and South Africans” broadens the topic area to reflect attitudes to a country’s people. Travel is, or course, not just limited to leisure time and public transport and commuting feature as the subject of reports such as The commuter revolution.

A further side to this industry is shown in an interesting series of documents commissioned by Boeing on governmental and public opinion towards the space program: Confidential proposal for a motivational research study on the NASA program. The increased globalisation and democratisation of travel evinced by these reports does not seem to be limited to this planet.