Consumer Confidence in Travel is Soaring — Longwoods International

On July 28, The Travel Vertical Podcast, Amir Eylon, President & CEO of Longwoods International will be our guest to talk about ongoing American traveler sentiment—as well as resident sentiment—as we move through the phases of post-pandemic recovery. 

According to Wave 40, the latest Longwoods International tracking study of American travelers, three quarters now feel safe to travel outside their local communities, the highest levels in more than a year. Despite cautions from public health officials about coronavirus variants, two thirds of travelers support opening their communities to visitors.

“The 2021 leisure travel boom is real. Barring any setbacks battling COVID-19, we expect robust growth for the rest of the year,” Amir indicates.

Expecting Excellent Service

According to the latest Longwoods International tracking study of American travelers, more than 80% expect the travel and tourism industry to provide as good or better service than they did prior to the pandemic. Given the scramble to attract adequate staffing at many tourism-related businesses across the country, this may be a summer of disappointment when it comes to customer service as travel accelerates nationally.

“We urge travelers to be patient this summer, as tourism businesses ramp up after a very tough 2020,” said Amir Eylon. “The industry is well aware of the need to provide excellent service as a key part of the travel experience, but labor shortages in many parts of the U.S. are keeping hotels, restaurants, retail outlets and attractions from being able to fully staff for the peak summer season.”

Vaccination Implications

About half of travelers are keeping an eye on the vaccination rates for potential destinations, saying the rate of vaccinations will have an impact on their destination selection. Conversely. nearly 40% of respondents say the percentage of the population vaccinated in a destination will have no impact on the travel plans.

Funding Matters

Longwoods International explains that as some destinations weigh imposing new taxes to improve their communities or protect their local environments, travelers are evenly split on such tax increases. A third of travelers either support such a tax increase or oppose it. The balance of respondents either had no opinion on the tax question or needed more information to decide on support or opposition on such a tax increase.

The survey, supported by Miles Partnership, was fielded June 23, 2021 using a national sample randomly drawn from a consumer panel of 1,000 adults, ages 18 and over. Quotas were used to match Census targets for age, gender, and region to make the survey representative of the U. S. population.