CHICAGO—Travel app TripScout has surveyed 3,000 app users to gather the perception and expectations of travelers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of the survey is to assist the travel industry make more informed strategic decisions as the virus continues to affect and impact the world.
TripScout surveyed its app users about COVID-19 and travel including the expected impact and duration, COVID-19 and personal health, travel cancellations, perception of cruise lines, airlines, travel insurance providers, the national government and major media news.
Travelers have been heavily impacted by COVID-19 in the short term, but they don’t expect any long-term impact on their travels.
- 77% of travelers had to cancel or reschedule existing travel plans, but 90% of travelers still plan on traveling in 2020.
- 79% of travelers think the threat of COVID-19 will be over in less than six months and 45% think it will be over in less than three months.
- 60% of travelers said they plan on traveling just as much as they originally anticipated in 2020, assuming this is “over” relatively soon.
- 70% of travelers are currently planning for trips six months away and 34% are booking refundable travel for dates in the future.
- There is currently no change in the willingness to travel domestically or internationally in the future.
COVID-19 will have a long-term and crushing impact on the cruise industry.
- In addition to ongoing sustainability concerns, 61% of travelers say that COVID-19 made them even more unlikely to take a cruise in the future.
Travelers are taking the threat of COVID-19 very seriously and canceling trips, but personal health is one of their lowest concerns.
- 88% of travelers are “somewhat concerned” or “very concerned” about the coronavirus.
- The top three concerns are health of others (82%), the economy (66%) and impact on personal travel (61%). Only 38% are concerned for their own health.
- 77% of travelers have already canceled or rescheduled existing travel plans.
Most travelers are highly satisfied with airlines during this pandemic, but highly frustrated with trip insurance providers.
- 85% of travelers that have canceled/rescheduled trips have received or expect to receive some form of refund or credit for future travel.
- 69% of travelers said it was easy to understand the impacts of their specific trip thanks to airlines and local regulators.
- Trip insurance, on the other hand, has not been helpful for COVID-19 cases (except for Cancel For Any Reason coverage).
Trust in national governments and major media/news is very low for accurate COVID-19 information.
- Travelers are placing high trust in public health authorities (WHO, CDC, etc.) for accurate COVID-19 related information and moderate trust in their local government. There are very low levels of trust with national governments and major media/news.
“COVID-19 has severely impacted tourism worldwide as we quickly shift to change our way of life to mitigate the spread and outbreak of the virus,” said Konrad Waliszewski, founder/CEO of TripScout. “We wanted to quickly survey frequent travelers in order to gauge its impact on current and future travel plans. We hope this survey will shed light on what travelers are actually doing and thinking in order to help our industry better navigate the crisis.”
“We’re continuing to work with our community to ensure we are doing everything in our power to share insights—whether it’s with the media, travel partners or the general public—to alleviate the stress and uncertainty associated with travel cancelations and the overall impact COVID-19 has on industries,” said Andy Acs, co-founder of TripScout. “We are confident that we can come together during this time to do what is right and that we will bounce back stronger than ever.”