MMGY Global has announced the latest findings from MMGY Travel Intelligence's Travel Intentions Pulse Survey Wave VIII (TIPS) and MMGY Global’s Travel Safety Barometer, which are designed to track how COVID-19 is impacting travelers’ attitudes, perceptions and behaviors. As we near the end of a summer where domestic road trips were the preferred way to vacation, despite COVID hot spots also continuing to pop up around the country, perceptions of safety for domestic travel, transportation, lodging and even business travel are at their highest since the start of the pandemic.
The Domestic Travel Safety Barometer, which measures traveler sentiment on a scale of 0 (extremely unsafe) to 100 (extremely safe), experienced a 4-point jump with confidence in the safety of domestic travel increasing from a score of 45 to 49 from July to August. At the same time, the Lodging Safety Barometer reached an all-time high score of 50 as confidence in staying at hotels and resorts rose. These positive feelings are also reflected in the latest TIPS report, which found the likelihood of taking a domestic leisure trip during the next six months has increased from 38 percent in July to 42 percent in August. Furthermore, 75 percent of travelers said they are likely to travel by personal car during the next six months—the highest level reported since the survey began in March.
As for international travel, however, sentiment still remains low at a score of 32 (although that’s up from 30 in July). Cruise travel is even lower at 24, where it has remained since July.
Regarding travel activities, outdoor options where you can space out are still on top. Going to a park scored a 61 and going to the beach a 54. Activities with crowds—like attending a sporting event, concert/festival (even outdoors), or visiting a theme park or amusement park—scored lower.
MMGY Travel Intelligence’s Travel Intentions Pulse Survey is conducted monthly among 1,200 U.S. residents who have taken an overnight trip for either business or leisure in the past 12 months. Wave VII of the survey was conducted on July 27–31, 2020, and Wave VIII was conducted August 21–31, 2020. MMGY Global’s Travel Safety Barometer is culled monthly from the Travel Intentions Pulse Survey, providing a comprehensive picture about how safe Americans think it is to travel.
Source: MMGY Travel Intelligence and MMGY Global
This article originally appeared on www.travelagentcentral.com.
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