Research shows record high optimism, excitement to travel!

The following was published in a recent Visit NC NewsLink e-newsletter

Americans’ optimism about the month ahead with regards to the pandemic reached a new record high, says Destination Analysts, increasing an additional 5 points this week. Now more than 44 percent of Americans feel that the situation will improve during the next month, while 18 percent feel the situation will get worse (down from a record high of 55 percent at the beginning of the year.)

In addition to record high expectations this week, Americans are feeling less anxious and more hopeful about travel this year. The level of excitement with regards to travel in 2021 reached a new high, as did a readiness state of mind about travel and the proportion of Americans who will take at least one leisure trip in the next three months. When asked to use just one word to describe how they feel about travel right now, “excited” is one of the top words, a drastic change from earlier in the pandemic.

With this excitement about near-term travel, an increasing proportion of Americans say they have tentative travel plans right now. More than 83 percent of Americans have tentative travel plans, and while the majority of them are planned for the summer, the proportion of those who plan spring travel inched up this week. More than half of American travelers will take a leisure trip in the next three months.

With the promise of summer travel, interest in outdoor attractions continues to increase. With proper safety measures such as hand sanitizing stations, visible cleaning activity and mask requirements, half of travelers say they expect to be comfortable at commercial outdoor venues and attractions by July.

Published on Monday, March 1, 2021