When Will We Travel Again?

Even though a number of states are starting to relax some stay at home rules, the US general public does not think that it will be traveling for leisure or business in great numbers any time soon.

Just under half (47%) think that they will be traveling for leisure in 2020 and half of business travelers (51%) think they will be traveling for work. Whether or not they travel in 2020 will obviously depend on the continued spread of the Covid-19 virus and the effectiveness of federal government, states, and locales to try to control the spread and development treatments.

When we look at this more closely, about 1 in 5 (22%) expect to travel for leisure during the summer and another quarter (25%) may be thinking of traveling in the fall.  The desire to reconnect with family and friends (52%) and the need for a change of scenery (45%) will motivate leisure travel in 2020.

Further, over half (54%) don’t expect to go on vacation until 2021 or even later with almost 3 in 10 (28%) waiting until 2021 and another 26% planning to hold off until 2022 or later.

Business Traveling

While the US public remains fairly cautious in its expectation for vacation travel, those who are employed and who travel for business purposes are more optimistic.  Over half of all those who have travelled for business purposes (51%) expect to travel in 2020.  And among those who are more frequent travelers, 6 in 10 (59%) expect to return to traveling in 2020. Another 4 in 10 of all business travelers (38%) will hit the road in 2021 with over a third (35%) of frequent business travelers expecting this. Few (11%) think that business traveling will wait until 2022 or later.

Key Takeaway:

While business traveling may recover somewhat more quickly than leisure, the industry should focus on the benefits of travel to help connect individuals and provide a change of scenery from the ground hog day feeling sheltering in place has created.