The First Place Most Americans Plan to Travel After COVID-19

The most recent Longwoods International travel-sentiment tracking covid-19-travel-sentiment-study-wave-8″ rel=”nofollow”>study, released today, indicates that over half of American travelers want to make their first trip (once it’s appropriate to travel again) a domestic visit to reunite with friends and family, following so much self-isolation.

52 percent of respondents agreed, with 76 percent of those saying they’d travel by car and 24 percent by air. Among those who plan on driving, 52 percent said they plan on keeping to within 200 miles of home, while 48 percent intend to venture farther.

All told, 86 percent of travelers signaled that they plan on visiting a U.S. domestic destination once pandemic-imposed restrictions are lifted. Four percent said they’ll opt for an international trip and two percent said they’ll keep it local, planning a staycation near home. Only eight percent responded that they intend no travel within the next six months.

“Despite the pandemic, Americans are eager to travel, especially to spend time with family and friends,” said Amir Eylon, President and CEO of market research consultancy, Longwoods International. “The vast majority of Americans will make their first trip after the pandemic in the U.S., with only four percent planning international travel as their first destination.”

About 70 percent of respondents said they have trips planned within the next months, a percentage that has remained steady throughout weekly surveys gathered over the past four weeks. 55 percent also admitted that the coronavirus-outbreak” target=”_self” rel=”nofollow noopener noreferrer”>COVID-19 pandemic will greatly impact their travel in the next six months—down from 67 percent who said the same four weeks ago.

The impact of the status of our economy has remained almost unchanged during the course of the pandemic, with 22 percent of those surveyed saying that economic factors will heavily impact their travel plans in the coming six months.

The survey was conducted on April 29, 2020, using a randomly-selected national sample from a consumer panel of 1,000 adults over eighteen years old, with quotas applied to match Census targets for age, gender and region in order to most accurately represent the overall U.S. population.