Vaccinated Americans are raring to travel, survey shows, and are booking up summer vacations
Americans are hitting the road — and skies — with a vengeance.
97% of users surveyed by TripIt, the travel management platform, said they plan to travel in 2021, with more than half planning to fly somewhere within the United States by June.
According to the survey results, COVID-19 vaccine rollout is a major contributor to the current travel boom. About 56% said that being fully vaccinated is the number one factor driving their comfort level with travel.
Notably, a third of respondents said they were planning to take a trip that was rescheduled from last year or earlier this year due to the pandemic.
The results are not surprising: the number of travelers passing through airport security checkpoints has climbed steadily since March, and has not fallen below 1 million per day since March 10. U.S. airlines say that domestic travel demand has mostly recovered to pre-pandemic levels, driven almost entirely by pent-up leisure demand.
Americans are also trying to use more than 20 million pandemic-era travel vouchers for canceled or delayed trips last year. The race to use these vouchers before they expire, coupled with the surge in travel demand, has led to long wait times for airline reservation phone lines in recent months.
More: Long airline hold times continue as Americans race to book spring and summer travel
Although the TripIt survey has some flaws — for instance, the survey samples the platform's own users, who are likely more biased to traveling than the general public — it nevertheless adds to the mountain of evidence of a spring and summer travel boom.
That means that now is the time to make your summer vacation plans, before flights, lodging, and venues are all booked up! TPG has the guides and tips you need to begin forraying back into the world of travel, so be sure to stay tuned here.
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