HomeMy WebLinkAbout03. June_8th_Update_from_Destination_Analysts_Coronavirus_Travel_Sentiment_Index_ReportKEY FINDINGS—WEEK OF JUNE 8th, 2020
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Key Findings for the Week of June 8th
Please cite Destination Analysts when using or distributing this data
Page 6
Perceived Safety of Travel Activities (March 15th –June 7th)
American travelers’ feelings about their health and financial safety continue to improve and perceptions of the safety of travel-related
activities are now better than they were in mid-March.
Page 7
More Americans report they are
already traveling or feel ready to
travel compared to last week, and
70 percent continue to say they will
take at least one leisure trip in the
remainder of this year.
Americans’ Travel State of Mind
Question: When it comes to getting back out and traveling again, which best describes your current state of mind? (Select one)
6.1%
14.1%
29.8%
27.0%
23.0%
8.0%
13.7%
31.3%
26.7%
20.3%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
I'm already traveling I'm ready to travel,
with no hesitations
I'm ready to travel,
but feel some
hesitation
I need a little more
time to be ready to
travel
I need a lot more time
to be ready to travel
May 29-31 June 5-7
(Base: All respondents. 1,257 and 1,214 completed surveys. Data collected May 29-31 and June 5-7, 2020)
Page 8
Openness to Travel Inspiration & Excitement to Take a Getaway
Younger travelers —those in the Millennial and GenZ generations—and travelers in the Southern U.S. continue to be most excited to
travel in the next month and open to travel inspiration.
Question: At this moment, how interested are you in learning about new, exciting travel experiences or destinations to visit?
Question: Imagine that a good friend (or close family member)asks you to take a weekend getaway with them sometime in the next month.How excited would you be to go?
(Assume the getaway is to a place you want to visit)
(Base: All respondents, 1,214 completed surveys. Data collected June 5-7, 2020)
5.2 5.05.5 5.45.0 4.9
5.7 5.6
0.0
2.0
4.0
6.0
8.0
10.0
New Travel Experiences Taking a Weekend Getaway
Average Level of Excitement in Learning about
New Travel Experiences & Taking a Weekend Getaway—by U.S. Region
(on an 10-point scale from “Not at all excited” to “Extremely excited”)
West Midwest Northeast South
6.0 5.95.5 5.5
4.9 4.6
0.0
2.0
4.0
6.0
8.0
10.0
New Travel Experiences Taking a Weekend Getaway
Average Level of Excitement in Learning about
New Travel Experiences & Taking a Weekend Getaway—by Generation
(on an 10-point scale from “Not at all excited” to “Extremely excited”)
Millennial or younger Gen X Baby Boomer or older
Page 9
(Base: Respondents with a trip at least tentatively planned in 2020,
853 completed surveys. Data collected June 5-7, 2020)
Americans are also exhibiting conviction about
their leisure travel plans, rather than tentativeness.
In looking at their next leisure trip, over three-
quarters (76.4%) have a developed sense of where
and when this travel will take place.
American Travelers’ Next Leisure Trip
Page 10
There is also a notable degree of confidence that this trip will
happen, in spite of coronavirus issues that may arise: 52.4% say
there is absolutely no—or only a slight—chance they will cancel
this next trip. Nevertheless, safety considerations are still
important to travelers’ decision-making, from which destination
they choose for this trip, to their selection of lodging and
transportation options. The majority of American travelers
continue to opt for beach, outdoor and rural type experiences
for their next leisure trips.
American Travelers’ Next Leisure Trip
(Base: Respondents with a trip at least tentatively planned in 2020,
853 completed surveys. Data collected June 5-7, 2020)
Page 11
Online Trip Planning Resources & Means of Travel Research
For their research and planning of this next trip, American travelers are now largely looking directly to travel providers and travel
content producers rather than sources like the CDC—perhaps an additional display of their confidence about navigating the
coronavirus situation. Younger generations are likelier to use a diverse set of social media and digital tools for their travel research for
this next trip, while Baby Boomers are more likely to concentrate their travel research activity on web searches.
Question: Which of these ONLINE RESOURCES will you be likely to use to plan this trip?
(Base: Respondents with a trip at least tentatively planned in 2020, 853 completed surveys. Data collected June 5-7, 2020)
Question: Please think about the planning you have done (or will do) for this upcoming trip. Which of
these have you used (or will you use) to gather information for this trip?
Page 12
Month of Next Road and Commercial Airline Trip
Many American travelers
continue to say their next road
trip will be this summer, with
40% listing June, July or August
as their timing. About half that
number say their next trip by air
will occur in the summer; 30%
say their the next commercial
airline trip will be September or
later in 2020, with the
remainder putting it off until
2021 or later.
Question: In what month do you expect you will take your NEXT TRIP on a commercial airline?
Question: In what month do you expect you will take your NEXT ROAD TRIP (Traveling in a personal automobile)?
3.1%
7.1%6.5%6.4%7.5%
6.0%7.2%
5.1%4.6%
2.9%3.6%
22.5%
7.2%
10.3%
13.8%
15.1%
13.0%
9.2%8.0%
6.3%5.3%
3.2%2.2%2.3%1.4%
12.4%
2.5%
5.3%
0%
10%
20%
30%
June July August September October November December January
2021
February
2021
March 2021 April 2021 Sometime
later in
2021
Sometime
in 2022 or
later
Never - I
don't or
won't take
a trip
Commercial airliner Road trip
(Base: All respondents, 1,214 completed surveys. Data collected June 5-7, 2020)
Page 13
Months of Upcoming Travel Plans
This week, an increased
number of Americans
reported they have at least
tentative leisure trip plans in
the months of June, August,
October, November and
December.
Question: Even if only tentatively scheduled, in which months of this year do you currently plan to take any leisure trips?
7.9%
16.8%15.1%
18.8%
17.3%
11.6%12.3%
32.6%
12.1%
8.0%
18.4%18.5%
20.7%20.3%
15.6%
12.3%
25.6%
12.5%
9.0%
17.5%
19.6%19.9%
23.1%
18.8%
16.4%
28.8%
0.0%0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
June July August September October November December I have no plans
to travel in 2020
I plan to travel
in 2021
May 22-24 May 29-31 June 5-7
(Base: Waves 11-13. 1,223 ,1,257 and 1,214 completed surveys. Data collected May 22-24, 29-31 and June 5-7, 2020)
Page 14
Feelings About Being Asked to Attend a Conference, Convention or Meeting
To understand how employee feelings may
play into when business and convention
travel return, this week a series of questions
were asked to gauge emotions around this
type of travel in the Summer and Fall. Nearly
half of employed Americans reported they
would be unhappy if their employer asked
them to take an out-of-state business trip in
July; meanwhile, about a quarter would be
happy to. However, 40.8% of those that
typically travel for conventions and
conferences said they would be happy if they
were asked to attend a convention in the Fall
(35.3% said they would be unhappy). As of
this week, 25.0% of convention/conference
travelers say they have at least a tentative
plan to attend a group meeting in the
remainder of 2020.
Question: How would you feel if you were asked to attend a conference, convention or group meeting sometime this Fall?
(Base: Respondents attending a conference, convention or group meeting in the past 2 years, 404 completed surveys.
Data collected June 5-7, 2020)
Coronavirus Travel Sentiment Index
Measuring the Potential Influence of Travel Marketing
Highlights from the Week of June 8th
What is a
Predictive
Index?
Indexing is the practice of compiling data into
one single metric.
A predictive index is a statistical measure of
change in a representative group of data points.
The predictive index is then compared to a
standard base value in order to make data-
driven predictions.
The goals are to identify:
•WHO are the traveler segments that appear
receptive to travel marketing and
•WHEN will they be ready to travel
Predictive Index Formula
Concern for
Personal Health
Concern for
Personal Finances
Openness to
Messaging
Excitement to
Travel Now
*Normalized to a 100pt scale
0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
0 1 - 25 26 - 50 51 - 75 76 - 100
High Travel
Not Ready to Travel Ready to TravelWaiting to
Travel
Neutral
Healthy Travel Outlook
0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
0 1 - 25 26 - 50 51 - 75 76 - 100
April 3-5 April 10-12 April 17-19 April 24-26 May 1-3
May 8-10 May 15-17 May 22-24 May 29-31 June 5-7
Waiting to
Travel
Neutral
Not Ready to Travel Ready to Travel
Travel Outlook
0.0
10.0
20.0
30.0
40.0
50.0
60.0
70.0
80.0
90.0
100.0 Total
Millennials or younger
Gen X
Boomer or older
WEST
MIDWEST
NORTHEAST
SOUTH
Commercial Lodging Travelers
International Travelers
Air Travelers
Cruise Travelers
Leisure Travelers
VFR Travelers
Business Travelers
Convention Travelers
Female
Male
Affluent - Over $125K
$80K - $125K
Under $80K
City Travelers
Beach Travelers
US National Parks Travelers
Suburban area
Large city (urban area)
Rural area
Luxury hotel
Non-luxury Hotel
Peer-to-peer lodgingWaiting to TravelNot Ready to TravelReady to TravelRural respondents continue to
show the highest Index
Gender
0.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
30.0
Female
Male
Points of Interest:
•Safety and financial concerns dropped for Men this week, while concerns for
women largely remained consistent with previous weeks.
•Men reported a significant drop in the agreement with the statement, “I’m
planning to avoid travel until the Coronavirus situation blows over” (50.6%
down from 60.5% last week; top 2 box agreement).
Generation
0.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
30.0
Millennials or younger
Gen X
Boomer or older
Points of Interest:
•Gen X safety concerns rebounded this week (6.5 out of 10, up from 6.1 last week)
while Millennials and Boomers showed modest drops in concern for safety.
•Millennials showed a slight rise in openness to travel messaging while both Gen X
and Boomers saw slight drops.
US Region
0.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
30.0
WEST
MIDWEST
NORTHEAST
SOUTH
Points of Interest:
•Safety concerns in all regions except the Midwest showed slight drops this week
while financial concerns showed drops most significantly in the South.
•Among all regions the Northeast again showed the most optimism about the
coronavirus situation improving in the next month (44.4% up from 34.8% last
week think the situation will get better or much better in the next month).
Type Of Residence
0.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
30.0
35.0
Suburban area
Large city (urban area)
Rural area
Points of Interest Impacting Index Scores:
•Safety concerns grew again among Suburban respondents this
week while showing drops for Urban and Rural respondents.
•Rural respondents reported modest growth in openness to
travel messaging and the relatively highest levels of excitement
to travel now.
Lodging Type
Used in last 2 years
0.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
30.0
Luxury hotel
Non-luxury Hotel
Peer-to-peer lodging
Points of Interest:
•Peer-to-peer lodging travelers showed a significant decrease in
concerns for personal safety this week (5.9 out of 10, down from
6.6 last week).
•Luxury hotel travelers were most likely to report they planned to
travel before the end of 2020.
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