Update on American Travel in the Period of Coronavirus—Week of November 16th
The alarming trajectory of the pandemic in the U.S. has hit travel sentiment and trip plans hard for the near-term, but American optimism about the safety of 2021 travel soared on Pfizer’s vaccine announcement.
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 November 13th-15th.
Key Findings to Know:
- As daily cases exceeded 180,000 in the last few days, Americans’ concerns about contracting COVID-19 rose right alongside. 60.7% believes the pandemic will be getting worse in the next month; just 14.3% feels it will get better.
- The trajectory of the pandemic continues to depress how Americans feel about travel for the near-term, with excitement levels for taking a potential getaway in the next month and openness to travel inspiration declining, while loss of interest in travel for the time being and guilt traveling increase.
- This latest surge in COVID-19 cases has resulted in actual trip cancellations and postponements (47.4%), as well as the loss of trips that may have come to fruition if the pandemic was on a better course. Now 62.8% express that what’s happening with the pandemic has made them less likely to travel in the next 3 months.
- While feelings about travel in the short-term may be depressed, there continue to be positive indicators for travel’s future. The perception of travel and leisure activities as unsafe has not gone back up to peak levels recorded in July and April. Americans’ travel state-of-mind remained steadfast.
- In total, 23.1% of American travelers have taken a trip by air during the pandemic and 58.1% have taken a road trip. Nearly three-in-ten say they plan to take a holiday season-related trip. In addition, nearly 80% have at least tentative trip plans for some time in the next year.
- Over 60% of American travelers said Pfizer’s announcement that their experimental vaccine is likely more than 90 percent effective at preventing the Coronavirus disease made them more or much more optimistic that they can travel safely in 2021. For the nearly half of American travelers who say they would feel guilty traveling right now, two-thirds of this group says an effective vaccine would assuage this guilt.
- When American travelers were asked to name a celebrity or public figure that they think would be best to market a national coronavirus vaccine program, Dr. Anthony Fauci, came out on top.
- We are reminded this week about the positivity of travel on human culture. Nearly half of American travelers say they are likely to support minority-owned businesses on their next trip, and over half are likely to support businesses that they believe make a positive societal impact wherever their travels take them next.
- Don’t forget to register to attend a full update of these findings on Tuesday, November 17th at 11:00am ET.
As daily cases exceeded 180,000 in the last few days, Americans’ concerns about contracting COVID-19 rose right alongside. Americans are especially concerned about their family and friends getting the virus. Those in the Northeastern region of the country continue to express the strongest concerns about this, now followed by those in the Midwest. Americans are back to where they were in July in their pessimism—60.7% believes the pandemic will be getting worse in the next month; just 14.3% feels it will get better.
The trajectory of the pandemic continues to depress how Americans feel about travel for the near-term. Those with high excitement levels for taking a potential getaway in the next month plummeted over 7 percentage points since last week, and openness to travel inspiration also declined to the lowest level it has been since August 9th. The percent that agree they have lost their interest in travel for the time being increased to 46.2% from 43.1% in the last week. About 60% of American travelers say they wouldn’t be able to fully enjoy travel, and nearly 47% say they would feel guilty traveling right now.
This latest surge in COVID-19 cases has resulted in actual trip cancellations, as well as the loss of trips that may have come to fruition if the pandemic was on a better course. The proportion of American travelers that said they cancelled or postponed a trip because of the increasing cases has jumped to 47.4% from 41.8% in a week. Now 62.8% (up from 60.2%) express that what’s happening with the pandemic has made them less likely to travel in the next 3 months.
While feelings about travel in the short-term may be depressed, there continue to be positive indicators for travel’s future. American travelers’ concerns about the pandemic’s impact on their personal finances is at one of the lowest levels it has been during the pandemic (54.8% have elevated concerns). The perception of travel and leisure activities as unsafe has not gone back up to peak levels recorded in July and April. Travel also continues to happen. In total, 23.1% of American travelers have taken a trip by air during the pandemic and 58.1% have taken a road trip. Nearly three-in-ten say they plan to take a holiday season-related trip. In addition, nearly 80% have at least tentative trip plans for some time in the next year, although over a third are eyeing May 2021 or later. Americans’ travel state-of-mind remained steadfast, with 57.1% expressing readiness versus hesitation.
Perhaps the best news the travel industry has received in a long while was pharmaceutical company, Pfizer’s announcement that their experimental vaccine is likely more than 90 percent effective at preventing the Coronavirus disease. Indeed, over 75% of American travelers took this as good or great news, with 60.9% saying the announcement made them more or much more optimistic that they can travel safely in 2021. Now 42.0% of American travelers say if a COVID-19 vaccine is developed later this year (or early next year) and approved for use they would take it, up from 39.2% last week. For the nearly half of American travelers who say they would feel guilty traveling right now, two-thirds of this group says an effective vaccine would assuage this guilt.
Inspired by NPR’s recent story on how Elvis Presley was used to help market the polio vaccine, we asked American travelers we surveyed to name a celebrity or public figure they feel would be best to market participation in a national vaccine program. The responses were as interesting and varied as America itself, but with our National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director, Dr. Anthony Fauci, coming out on top.
Finally, we are reminded this week about the positivity of travel on human culture. Nearly half of American travelers say they are likely to support minority-owned businesses on their next trip, and over half are likely to support businesses that they believe make a positive societal impact wherever their travels take them next.
