Update on American Travel in the Period of Coronavirus—Week of January 4th

Americans are embracing travel in their optimism for a better 2021. However, it appears they plan to defer making their travel dreams reality until later in the year.

 

 

IMPORTANT: These findings are brought to you from our independent research, which is not sponsored, conducted or influenced by any advertising or marketing agency. Every week since March 15th, Destination Analysts has surveyed 1,200+ American travelers about their thoughts, feelings, perceptions and behaviors surrounding travel in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, and explored a variety of topics. The findings presented below represent data collected January 1st-3rd.

Key Findings to Know:

  • After dropping in the latter half of December, Americans pessimistic that the pandemic will get worse in the U.S. in the next month increased this week to 55.9%. As it concerns Americans’ personal anxiety about contracting COVID-19, this decreased in the last week, yet high concerns about their friends and family getting the virus remained stably elevated. Meanwhile, there are rising anxieties about the pandemic’s impact on personal finances and the national economy.
  • Nearly half of Americans say they are not confident they can travel safely in the current environment.
  • Yet travel is a beneficiary of the new year’s hope. Americans highly open to travel inspiration is up over 6% in the last week (52.6%), and Americans in a travel ready state-of-mind returned to 52.9% after dropping below 50% at the end of December. Inversely, loss of interest in travel has retreated 6 percentage points in the last three weeks to 43.3%.
  • The percent of American travelers who say that they will avoid travel until vaccines are widely available has fallen to 46.7%; meanwhile more Americans than ever are saying they will take the vaccine (60.1%).
  • Over 38% of American travelers say they have day-dreamed about taking a trip in the last week and a third have talked to a friend or relative about a future trip. Nearly a quarter of American travelers have researched travel ideas online just in the past week.
  • As Americans look out over their travel year in this first week of January, they cautiously see an average of 3.0 leisure trips in 2021. It appears trips will ramp up beginning in May, peak in July, ramp back down in October and bump up again in December.
  • About 18% anticipate their first trip by commercial airline in 2021 will be in the second quarter (April-June).
  • Aspirations to visit Florida, Las Vegas, New York, California, Hawaii and Colorado remain most common.
  • The majority of Americans do not plan to travel in the next three months—37.5% do. While 84.5% of these trips will indeed be overnight trips, 66.2% will be regional, and over a third of those traveling say they will be staying in the home of a friend or relative. Both cities and small towns and rural areas will most commonly be visited, however the pandemic will still be dictating trip behaviors. 41.3% plan to visit less crowded places and 30.2% plan to visit outdoor-oriented destinations.

Welcome to 2021!

After dropping in the latter half of December, Americans pessimistic that the pandemic will get worse in the U.S. in the next month increased this week to 55.9%. As it concerns Americans’ personal anxiety about contracting COVID-19, this decreased in the last week (to 6.6/10 from 6.9/10), yet high concerns about their friends and family getting the virus remained stably elevated (7.3/10). Meanwhile, as Americans remain uncertain about the amount government-issued stimulus checks will ultimately be, there are rising anxieties about the pandemic’s impact on personal finances (6.0 up from 5.9) and the national economy (7.8 up from 7.5). And with coronavirus cases sustained at record-high levels, right now, just 41.9% of American travelers feel comfortable going out in their own communities for leisure activities—a metric that has still not returned to the pandemic period high of 47.4% registered the week of October 19th. Likewise, perceptions of travel activities as safe also remains unreturned to October levels. In fact, nearly half of Americans say they are not confident they can travel safely in the current environment.

 

 

Yet a new year is an oft-renewer of hope and optimism, and travel is a beneficiary. Americans highly open to travel inspiration is up over 6% in the last week (52.6%), and Americans in a travel ready state-of-mind returned to 52.9% after dropping below 50% at the end of December. Inversely, loss of interest in travel has retreated 6 percentage points in the last three weeks to 43.3%, and avoidance of international travel (70.9%) and conventions/conferences (68.6%) both hit one of the lowest levels they have been since the pandemic began. The percent of American travelers who that say they will avoid travel until vaccines are widely available has fallen to 46.7% after being well over 50% the week of Christmas, and more Americans than ever are saying they will take the vaccine (60.1%).

 

 

When asked this week, nearly 60% of American travelers say they miss traveling “very much,” and they appear to be showing it. In fact, 38.4% say they have day-dreamed about taking a trip in the last week and a third have talked to a friend or relative about a future trip. Nearly a quarter of American travelers have researched travel ideas online just in the past week.

 

 

As Americans look out over their travel year in this first week of January, they cautiously see an average of 3.0 leisure trips in 2021 (Note: if this expectation holds true, leisure trips will be down approximately 39% from 2019 levels). It appears trips will ramp up beginning in May, peak in July, ramp back down in October and bump up again in December. About 18% anticipate their first trip by commercial airline in 2021 will be in the second quarter (April-June). Aspirations to visit Florida, Las Vegas, New York, California, Hawaii and Colorado remain most common.

 

 

For many Americans, making travel dreams reality will likely be for later in the year. We asked Americans about their travel in the next three months. The majority do not plan to travel—37.5% do. While 84.5% of these trips will indeed be overnight trips, 66.2% will be regional, and over a third of those traveling say they will be staying in the home of a friend or relative rather than paid accommodations. Both cities and small towns and rural areas will most commonly be visited, however the pandemic will still be dictating trip behaviors. 41.3% plan to visit less crowded places and 30.2% plan to visit outdoor-oriented destinations.

 

 

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