LAST UPDATE: SEPT. 15, 2021
Tracking the Return to Normal: Travel
This tracker is part of a series from Morning Consult gauging when consumers will return to normal activities in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Learn more and sign up for alerts.
When the pandemic first hit the United States last year, the travel industry ground to a halt. Now, after positive signs of recovery and Americans traveling again, concerns over the coronavirus’ delta variant are rising, and all eyes will remain on consumers’ comfort related to travel heading into the fall.
Morning Consult is tracking pent-up demand and excitement for many of the activities listed on this page. Bookmark this page for weekly updates of these figures, and read our Summer Travel Series, which dives into Americans’ and Europeans’ appetites for travel, how they’re planning their trips and much more.
KEY TRENDS
- Comfort With Vacationing Stays Flat Through September: 55% of U.S. adults said they’re comfortable going on a vacation as of a Sept. 9-11 survey, the same share who said so last week, when it increased 1 percentage point for the first uptick in eight weeks. The public’s comfort with the activity is down 10 points since the Fourth of July.
- Comfort With Home-Sharing Creeps Closer to Boutique Hotels: Big-name hotels still lead the pack for travel accommodations, with 53% of respondents expressing comfort with staying at such chains, no change from last week. Comfort with boutique hotels rose 1 point to 46%, while comfort with home-sharing venues such as Airbnbs increased by 3 points to 41%, inching closer to comfort with boutiques and now falling just 2 points shy of its record high of 43%, last reached in early August.
Tracking the Return to Normal
When will things return to normal and what will our new normal look like? It’s a question that business, economic and government leaders are grappling with as more and more Americans receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
To help answer this complicated question, Morning Consult is tracking how consumer attitudes are shifting across a wide range of categories, from travel to entertainment to dining, to gain greater insight into not only when consumers will be ready to return to their normal activities, but how their habits will be forever changed. We’ll be updating these pages every week with new data and analyses. Sign up for alerts below.