Travelers Look Past Pandemic with Future Travel Plans

According to the latest Longwoods International tracking study of American travelers, the rapid decline in new COVID-19 cases nationally has travelers gearing up planning for both domestic and international travel.  The percentage of travelers who say that coronavirus will greatly their decision to travel in the next six months dropped from 32% in early January to 24% in early February.  And the number of travelers who reported they are changing their travel plans because of COVID-19 fell from 58% to 49% in the same time period.

“Barring some new setback, the much-awaited shift in mindset among American travelers from “pandemic” to “endemic” travel finally may be underway,” said Amir Eylon, President and CEO of Longwoods International.  “Hopefully the interest in resuming international trips by American travelers also means that the U.S. will be hosting growing numbers of international visitors from around the world.”

In the latest survey, half of American travelers have plans to travel internationally during the next two years.  About a third of those planning international trips are headed to Europe, with a similar percentage choosing the Caribbean.  A quarter of these travelers expect to go to Mexico, and almost as many are planning a trip to Canada.

The survey, supported by Miles Partnership, was fielded February 2, 2022 using a national sample randomly drawn from a consumer panel of 1,000 adults, ages 18 and over.  Quotas were used to match Census targets for age, gender, and region to make the survey representative of the U. S. population.