How are people in the US feeling about travel?

We asked US travellers about their pre-pandemic, current and future travel plans, as well as feelings towards travel during turbulent times.
Download the report Get in touch
Global travellers survey from Profiles
Jennifer Carrea
Jennifer
Carrea

CEO, Americas and Global Health, Profiles Division

Get in touch

Having gone through restrictions, closures and bans, the global travel and tourism industry has seen some of the biggest disruption with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Along with it came cancelled plans, new ways of working and new traveller concerns.

As some states lift restrictions and others begin to lessen, the U.S. community of travelers is beginning to look ahead to a new normal.” 

So, Kantar has conducted an online survey among people globally, asking about their personal and business travel plans and their feelings towards travel in today’s environment. Explore some of the U.S. findings here as well as additional answers and countries within the complete report.

Are people in the U.S. planning to travel for vacations this year?

Just over half of U.S. respondents (59%) have a vacation planned in the coming year. This is 6% lower than the vacation plans of global respondents.

Of those who do have plans in the next 12 months, 54% of these are rescheduled vacations due to the pandemic causing them to change their original plans. 

Where do U.S. travellers intend on vacationing next?

The majority of vacation plans in the U.S. for the next year are for domestic travel, with 85% of respondents reporting they will take their trip within the country.

For those traveling overseas (15%) Europe is the most popular destination with 2 out of 3 US respondents planning trips here (32%). 28% of U.S. respondents plan to travel overseas within their own continent of North America.

Where Americans want to travel.

Do U.S. business travellers have travel plans over the next six months?

37% of U.S. respondents report to have work travel planned in the coming six months. For those will business trips planned, 11% these will be overseas trips, compared to 28% globally.

Are U.S. travellers supportive of vaccine passports?

55% of U.S. respondents support a vaccine passport  - documentation to prove that a person has received a Coronavirus vaccine – for international travel this year. 14% are not sure if they support or oppose this concept.

What post-pandemic concerns do U.S. travellers have?

Looking ahead to after the pandemic, the greatest concern for U.S. travellers, reported by 34% of respondents, is price inflation. There is also concern amongst U.S. travellers around capacity/ proximity to others for 27% and the sanitation of airports and planes (26%) and sanitation of hotels or rented accommodation (25%).

Top travel concerns for Americans

Get more answers

For more findings from this study, access the complete Community Report: Connecting with Travelers Around the Globe. Find additional answers on past and future travel plans, willingness to pay premiums, travel concerns and more.   

Editor’s note: This research was conducted online among 7,796 people across eight global markets: U.S., U.K., France, Germany, India, Singapore, Mainland China and Brazil. Respondents were sourced from Kantar’s LifePoints research panel, only accessible through the Kantar Profiles Network. All interviews were conducted as online self-completion and collected based on local census distributions. 

Get in touch
Related solutions
Access Kantar’s double opt-in research panel – a compliant and rich source of first-party data.
We’ve simplified, streamlined and scaled how you access respondent profiles in compliant ways.