The spring break season is traditionally the first major travel period of the year—but only about one in eight Americans is planning to take a spring break trip this year, according to polling data by Destination Analysts. Further, spring break travel intentions actually appear to be dropping, as the week prior’s polling had 16 percent of respondents interested.
The data, according to the U.S. Travel Association, suggests that Americans remain wary about traveling amid the COVID pandemic—and that they may prefer to defer their travel plans until the process of vaccinating the populace is more complete.
It is the latest worrying sign for the hard-hit travel industry, which experienced a collapse in travel demand and steep setbacks in 2020 as the pandemic took hold. Of all jobs lost nationwide, U.S. Travel noted, 39 percent are in the leisure and hospitality sector.
Among those who do plan to travel for spring break this year, the reasons cited as most important were:
- Relax and escape stress (73 percent)
- Spending time with family (71 percent)
- Escape boredom (71 percent)
- Visit new places or destinations (68 percent)
- Get away from daily life (67 percent)
Half of the spring break travelers, according to Destination Analysts, plan fly during their trip and head more than 500 miles away from home. Beach destinations are, of course, popular, as are National Parks and rural areas. Luxury hotels appear to be the most common lodging option for these spring break travelers.
Headed into the spring break travel season, the U.S. Travel Association on Thursday released updates to its “Travel in the New Normal” health and safety guidance, first released in May and last updated in November prior to the holiday travel surge. The latest changes to the guidance reflect the growing availability of COVID vaccines and include strong encouragement from the travel industry for every American to get vaccinated as soon as they are able.
But the latest data underscores that it is far from clear when demand for travel will rebound on its own and travel jobs can begin to be restored. Travel leaders say aggressive policy action is still needed to help travel employers keep their doors open, or else many will be at risk of shuttering and their jobs will be lost permanently.
Continued relief to travel through the Paycheck Protection Program and tax incentives to help travel-dependent businesses and spur individual travel demand are among the provisions the industry is requesting from Congress, U.S. Travel said.
Source: Destination Analysts
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