people still want to travel

While we’re all staying safe at home, we’ve also been hearing from our clients, friends, and neighbors about how eager they are to start traveling again once we’re on the other side of the COVID-19 crisis. For us and our business, we’re also looking ahead to try to get a handle on where, when, and how people will be looking to travel once we’re through this.

Each year, many organizations in the travel and tourism industries conduct surveys and analyze data to try to identify trends in travel. And that information is really useful to businesses like ours. We recently went waaaaaay back to January of this year (how long ago that seems, now!) to look at some of the information and stats that were compiled to help us prepare for travel in 2020.

And, you know what? Those stats were really inspiring! We started thinking about how much has changed in the first three months of this year, but then again, the thing that really matters is the mindset of our travelers. If people aren’t really traveling right now, that’s largely because of the circumstances. What hasn’t changed is that people are still longing to get out there and explore the world. So, let’s take a look at what people were—and we think still are—thinking about!

People Want to Travel Internationally

Usually, during an election year, people tend to stay home, according to conventional wisdom. But that’s not how 2020 was shaping up. According to a joint study conducted by the United States Tour Operators Association (USTOA) and MMGY Global, international travelers intended to take on average 2.2 international vacations in 2020, and 37 percent of those surveyed said that they wanted to travel more this year than they did in 2019.

And that’s consistent with other surveys from the beginning of the year. More than one-third of Americans had as one of their New Year’s Resolutions to travel more, according to flight comparison site, JetCost. In fact, nearly two in five American adults (39%) set a specific goal or target for travel in 2020, with another 18% saying generally that they wanted to travel more.

When asked why they wanted to travel more, 29% of those surveyed said that they’d never been abroad before and wanted to go for the first time. 23% said that they wanted to get out of the US, and 16% said that they wanted to see more of the world.

Travelers Want Authentic and Immersive Travel

A whopping 87% of travelers surveyed by the USTOA said that they prefer to focus on making memories over acquiring new things. The top motivators for traveling abroad were:

• To experience different cultures. (92%)

• To explore and have adventures (89%)

• To experience new cuisines (83%)

And Travel Leaders Group (a prominent industry network of travel advisors) discovered that people were looking to spend more on travel this year—52% of the people they surveyed said that they planned to spend more on travel in 2020 than in 2019. That’s a pretty good indication that people are looking for bigger trips, and vacations that are less about getting a passport stamp than actually immersing in a new destination.

Well, we’re certainly on board with that—it’s the way we like to travel, and it’s the type of trip that we plan most frequently for our clients. Destination-focused trips with an emphasis on food, culture and adventure are right up our alley!

Record-Setting Destinations.

There were lots of destinations that were anticipating huge spikes in tourism. Great Britain, in particular, reported a record number of visits from the US to the UK in the first three quarters of 2019, and that trend appeared to be continuing into 2020. Israel reported a record number of visitors from around the globe. Mexico and the Caribbean were keeping pace with the worldwide growth in tourism, as well—the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean and Yucatán in Mexico set records for visitors, while The Caribbean Hotel And Tourism Association found that tourism to the region, in general, grew by nearly 5%.

So, what were the destinations that showed up most frequently on people’s lists? Japan, the UK, Canada, and Australia were all tops on travelers’ lists, looking at a broad range of surveys. That’s consistent with what we’ve been hearing from our clients, as well—for example, we’ve been sending more people to Australia this year than ever before!

If you’re one of those travelers who’s really itching to get back out there and explore the world, maybe you’d like to use this “downtime” to start planning your next great adventure. If so, we’re right there with you. Let us know if you’d like to start working on a trip for later this year or even 2021. We’ve got lots of great ideas to inspire you, and we’re absolutely ready to help!