Are we getting closer to the time when the tourism industry can put Covid in the rear view mirror?
Road trip activity is surging ahead in October, reaching 5.7% above 2019 levels and a big jump of 21% over the same period last year, the Arrivalist Daily Travel Index shows. What’s more, the back-to-school period before the holidays is traditionally slower.
Cree Lawson, Founder & CEO, says this begs two questions: “Is travel caught up? Or surging ahead?”
Did you know? Arrivalist’s Daily Travel Index measures consumer road trips of 50 miles or more in all 50 U.S. states. The data is drawn from a panel of GPS signals representing road trips taken by car.
In the first 15 days of October 2021, when there was one Monday holiday, TSA traveler throughput at all U.S. checkpoints (primarily airports) surpassed 2 million passengers on eight separate days. In the first 15 days of September 2021, when there was one Monday holiday, there were just two days that passenger traffic reached 2 million.
What are American travelers thinking, saying, feeling?
The experts report on very recent key findings via surveys:
“As the delta variant recedes, traveler confidence is improving.” — Longwoods International
- 58% now support welcoming visitors back into their communities, a gain of ten points in just two weeks
- 67% now feel safe travelling outside their communities, also up ten points in two weeks
- 70% now feel safe shopping and dining locally, up 12 points in two weeks
“This welcome rebound is just in time, making the outlook for the holiday travel season a pretty bright one.” — Destination Analysts
- 28% feel that the U.S. has a significant degree of normalcy, up from 24.7% the week of October 4
- 75.7% have strong feelings of excitement about travel, up from 64.4% the week of October
- 44.9% have at least tentative plans to hit the road this season, up 17 percentage points from 2020
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