Coronavirus Pandemic’s Impact on Travel by Americans Increases Dramatically in One Week

March 24, 2020-- According to a Longwoods International tracking study of American travelers and the coronavirus pandemic, 75% of them are changing their travel plans for the next six months because of coronavirus, up from 58% a week ago.  When these travelers were asked how they will change their plans because of the pandemic, we see a sharp shift to canceling travel versus other options like reducing travel,  changing destinations, or changing mode of travel: 48% said they would cancel some trips, up from 28% a week ago.  39% said they will reduce travel in the next six months, similar to what we saw a week ago (36%).  Changing trips from international to domestic and from air travel to auto travel continue to occur, but were less frequent than the week prior.

The survey was fielded March 18-19, 2020 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.

The coronavirus pandemic continues to be a more significant factor affecting U.S. travel in the next six months, compared with concerns about the economy and transportation costs.   Of the travelers surveyed, 58% of them indicated that the coronavirus pandemic would “greatly impact” their decision to travel in the next six months, up from 35% a week ago.