The Traveler mood - perceptions and willingness to travel
Key takeaways:
- - The desire to ‘hit the road’ remained strong over the summer months
- - Travelers thinking about future trips are being cautious
Travel has always been a powerful motivator and the good news is that the desire to ‘hit the road’ remains strong over the months. In Q2 travelers were largely visiting Expedia sites to dream about their next trip, indicating that they were more likely to take trips after June. The pent-up desire to travel translated into active shopping throughout the summer months with steadily climbing search and booking volumes in a number of major markets like the United States, Canada, France and Germany.
As travelers start thinking about future trips, their mindset and search behavior is geared towards ‘safe’ travel. Our analysis show that the COVID-19 traveler expects to book trips closer to their travel date, buy travel insurance, and travel closer to home. Avoiding long distance international travel and destinations that they perceive as unsafe due to the pandemic and renting accommodations with reviews they can trust are all top of mind.
Source: Vrbo survey of 222 travelers conducted in April 2020