COVID Concerns Won’t Keep Travelers Home for the Holidays This Year
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Colleen Gallagher
315.447.2331
November 24, 2021 (Washington, DC) – The majority of business travelers (55%) have positive feelings around potential requirements for digital health passes or vaccine passports while traveling, with another 1 in 4 (27 percent) expressing neutral sentiment and less than 1 in 5 (17%) holding negative feelings, according to the latest monthly Traveler Confidence Index developed by Travel Again. On the leisure side, only 9% of travelers said they were not comfortable traveling this holiday season due to COVID risk.
“Business travelers understand how important office reopenings and resuming travel are for the bottom line, so it shouldn’t be surprising that many feel positively about requirements that could facilitate safer travel and avoid any setbacks,” said Travel Again Co-Founder Mike McCormick. “Travelers in general are ready to get back out there, and confidence is increasing as vaccination rates continue to rise, new treatments come on the market and travelers see everything suppliers are doing to create safe environments.”
Additional Key Findings
Thirty-six percent of leisure travelers have holiday season travel plans that include a flight or hotel stay, 37% said they are comfortable traveling but have no plans, and 22 percent report they don't normally travel for the holidays.
The number of business travelers reporting that they feel fully ready to travel today jumped again this month, breaking 40% for the first time since May. The number of leisure travelers reporting they feel fully ready to travel crept up to 26% this month.
The most important confidence building elements for business travelers include mandatory masks, empty middle seats and frequent cleaning. On the leisure side, mandatory masks and frequent cleaning also topped the list, along with limited crowd sizes.
Traveler Confidence Index: The Business Traveler Confidence Index continued to rise to 3.7 after a significant jump last month, while the Leisure Traveler Confidence Index remained steady after rising to 3.49 last month.
Travel Again has developed the Traveler Confidence Index assessing confidence levels in both the business and leisure traveler to guide the prioritization of future travel industry initiatives by measuring the impact on traveler confidence. This 13th edition focuses on U.S. travelers and we will continue reporting out on the index monthly, and will ultimately expand to include other countries as well.
About Travel Again: Travel Again unites the global travel industry to restore consumer and corporate confidence in traveling and to encourage responsible government policy. Visit travelagainproject.org for more information. Join Travel Again and support the global recovery of the travel industry. Follow Travel Again on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.