Half of Americans Say They Feel Comfortable Traveling This Fall

The results of Longwoods International’s most recent Wave 20 Travel Sentiment Tracking Study of U.S. travelers imply an encouraging increase in consumer confidence when it comes to traveling. Fifty percent of participants said that they “agree” or “strongly agree” that they feel safe venturing outside of their own communities this fall season.

In terms of the activities that will constitute their autumn travels, two-thirds of respondents said that they plan on going to visit friends and family, while 58 percent said they’re planning to road-trip somewhere within the U.S.

Survey responses made it clear that outdoor activities are preferred amid the pandemic, including visiting national or state parks (33 percent), viewing colorful fall foliage (30 percent) and hiking or biking (28 percent).

Other activities Americans are looking forward to include farmers' markets or even visiting a farm during harvest; going fruit-picking; attending festivals, theme or amusement parks; going to wineries, breweries or distilleries; and visiting museums, art galleries or other cultural attractions.

“Clearly a sizeable percentage of the travelers have settled into a new ‘normal’ for traveling during the pandemic,” said Amir Eylon, President and CEO of Longwoods International. “The heavy emphasis on visiting friends and family, road trips and individual outdoor activities all reflect on the relative perceived safety of those types of getaways.”

The percentage of travelers who will be altering their existing travel plans due to COVID-19 has steadily decreased, down from an April high of 85 percent to 67 percent in early September. Roughly half of respondents also said they now feel safe dining in local restaurants and shopping in local retail stores, up one percentage point from two weeks prior. Forty-three percent said that they’d now support opening their own communities up to outside visitors.

The Wave-20 Travel Sentiment Study was fielded on September 9, 2020, using a randomly-selected national sample of 1,000 adults, ages 18 and over. Selection quotas were applied in keeping with Census targets for age, gender and region, making the survey as representative of the overall U.S. population as possible.