NEWS

Americans are feeling the pangs of the travel industry’s labor shortages with 43.4% of recent overnight travelers agreeing that it seemed as though travel industry businesses were having trouble providing adequate service to travelers. But despite unsatisfactory travel experiences, some Americans are still feeling more enthusiastic about travel.

Key Findings to Know:

• Optimism about the virus’ course in America declines: Now, 16.2% expect the coronavirus situation to get worse or much worse in this country in the next month (up from 10.9%). This may also be causing a downturn in their openness to travel inspiration (now 70.9% from 73.1% last week) and confidence in their ability to travel safely in this environment (47.8% from 52.2%).
• Concerns about the safety of others and ourselves as well as worries about COVID-19 variants are the most important considerations that keep Americans from traveling more right now: In fact, over 40% of travelers say these three aspects are important or extremely important considerations that keep them from taking more trips.
• Nevertheless, summer travel plans hold strong: Over 77% of Americans plan to travel for leisure in the next 3 months—averaging 1.9 trips in this timeframe. 90% of these summer travelers expect to take at least one overnight trip. For these overnight trips, the most likely accommodation types will be the private home of a friend/relative (34.6%), 3-4 star hotels (32.7%) and budget hotels/motels (18.5%).

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