Goreme, in the Cappadocia region of central Turkey.
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Americans’ enthusiasm for travel has rebounded to unprecedented levels since the widespread introduction of Covid-19 vaccines last year, as their love of wanderlust exceeded frequency fueled by omicron and delta virus variants.
Nearly 82% of people are in a “prepared to travel” mindset in 2022 — a 5 percentage point increase in just the past two weeks, according to a survey of 1,200 American travelers released Monday by Destination Analyst, a tourism market research firm.
The findings suggest that potential travelers have largely ignored the shock of the highly contagious omicron variant, which has driven the number of cases to record levels and reversed travel plans during the winter holiday season.
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“Travel sentiment has recovered very quickly,” said Erin Francis Cummings, president and CEO of Destination Analysts, who has conducted fortnightly surveys of American travelers since March 2020. He added, describing the measure as a leading indicator of optimism.
Over 92% of respondents will take at least one trip within the next 12 months; They expect to take 3.3 leisure trips, on average, the highest share in 14 months, according to the survey conducted Jan. 26-28. More than three-quarters of them dreamed of traveling and planned to travel just in the past week – a rate not seen since last summer.
Enthusiasm for former travel began to gain steam in mid-2021, when a large group of Americans became eligible for a Covid vaccine. But Delta’s shape weakened that look, and again when O’Micron’s concerns about Thanksgiving surfaced.
“The early summer of 2021 was the previous peak,” Francis Cummings said. “We’re starting to see that summit again.”
“Omicron definitely had an effect: people canceled and postponed flights,” she added. “It didn’t have as deep or long an impact as Delta.”
Pandemic optimism
The North Cascades mountain range extends through Washington state and British Columbia, Canada.
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Destination analysts said respondents’ optimism about the course of the pandemic over the next month has jumped 11 percentage points to about 42% in the past two weeks, outpacing a variable post-delta rebound.
About 81% of travelers polled by destination analysts have been fully vaccinated — well above 68% of the total Americans age 5 and older, and the population is currently eligible for an injection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Travel website Huber expects domestic airfares to jump 7%, on average, each month through June, “driven by the rebound in demand after a wave of variable omicron.”
Travel spirits recovered very quickly.
Erin Francis Cummings
President and CEO of Destination Analysts
That’s well above the normal pre-pandemic monthly airline ticket price increases of 2% as summer approaches, according to the company’s consumer airline ticket price index published Jan. Domestic prices will reach 2019 levels by April 2022.
Huber said international airfares are at their lowest in January, averaging $649 round trip, but are expected to rebound 5%, on average, for the month through June. Prices began falling in the last week of November, when the World Health Organization classified Omicron as a variable of concern.
International travel is likely to pose some additional hurdles for travelers, as many countries impose testing and other entry requirements. (The United States also requires a negative re-entry test.) Some countries have not yet reopened their borders to American travelers.
Wherever the destination is, Americans traveling in 2022 plan to go wide. The average traveler plans to spend more than $4,100 on leisure travel this year, more than $200 more than in early January, according to destination analysts.
