According to the latest Longwoods International tracking study of American travelers, 84% have travel plans in the next six months, the highest level since the early days of the pandemic a year ago.  This is the third consecutive wave showing over 80% for this key metric. And the percentage of travelers who say that the coronavirus will greatly impact their travel plans has dropped to a third, down from a pandemic peak of two-thirds last April and matching the March 2020 low.
 
“Travel planning continues to accelerate as improving pandemic and vaccine data is released,” said Amir Eylon, President and CEO of Longwoods International.  “Barring another surge in infections, the beginning of the travel industry recovery appears on target during 2021.”

Even with the increasing optimism about the future, only 44% of travelers currently support opening their communities to visitors and about half feel safe traveling outside their communities or dining in local restaurants or shopping at local stores.  Moreover, 61% continue to modify their travel plans because of COVID-19.

Taking a look at other pandemic travel trends, a third of American travelers have worked remotely while on a vacation in the past twelve months.  This pattern may continue well into recovery.

The survey, marking its one year anniversary with this latest update and supported by Miles Partnership, was fielded March 3, 2021 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.