Safety concerns could be putting a damper on international travel, according to the latest travelhorizons survey from MMGY Global. The latest study, which polled 2,304 U.S. adults, found that significantly more respondents this year as compared to last year said that they find the safety of the destination to be a desirable vacation feature, rising from 85 percent to 88 percent.
Additionally, 28 percent of respondents said that they are less interested in traveling internationally now than they were this time last year. The top reasons for the decline in interest were that they would feel less safe in international destinations (36%) and that they would rather visit more U.S. destinations (29%).
The results differed across demographics, with significantly more older generations saying that they feel this way as compared to Millennials:
- Millennials: 85 percent
- Gen Xers: 89 percent
- Boomers: 91 percent
“Based on this, we're hypothesizing that safety of the destination is becoming more of a desirable factor when vacationing,” said Chris Davidson, MMGY Global’s executive vice president of insights and strategy, in a written statement. “We think this is being primarily driven by older generations.”
At the same time, MMGY’s Traveler Sentiment Index (TSI), which measures U.S. adults’ interest in travel, time available for travel, personal finances available for travel, perceived affordability of travel, quality of service, and perceived safety of travel, remained relatively unchanged from last year in this year’s study. The TSI fell one point, to 115.
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