New Data Reveals Current Traveler Outlook on Omicron, COVID-19 Pandemic

A brand new survey following traveler sentiment all through the COVID-19 pandemic carried out by FinanceBuzz discovered that vacationers are simply as nervous concerning the Omicron variant disrupting their journey plans or making it more durable to journey as they have been concerning the Delta variant.

The priority isn’t unfounded, seeing as the brand new variant really ended up disrupting journey greater than Delta, from the huge variety of flight cancellations to completely different locations like Spain and Hong Kong imposing stricter entry necessities on worldwide arrivals and even instituting journey bans to international locations in Southern Africa, the place the variant was first recognized.

FinanceBuzz carried out three surveys of over 1,000 People from Could 2020, August 2021 and January 2022 to hint the change in traveler sentiment, tendencies, fears and anxieties surrounding COVID-19.

This January, it discovered that 51 % of respondents have already modified their trip plans due to the variant, whereas 31 % canceled their plans outright. This was nonetheless decrease than each the preliminary COVID-19 outbreak and the Delta variant, when 43 % and 35 % of respondents reported canceling their journey plans.

Vacationers’ greatest fear with worldwide journey continues to be getting sick whereas overseas, with practically half reporting the concern of getting to quarantine overseas (41 %). Vacationers are additionally much less more likely to fly if masks have been now not mandated on flights, with 47 % saying they might rethink flying if that was the case, a rise from August 2021’s sentiment.

Journey planning can also be a bit completely different now than up to now, even as compared with the opposite two surges. Whereas outright cancellations are much less frequent through the Omicron surge, 1 / 4 of all respondents reported by no means planning any journey in any respect, up seven % from final 12 months and one % greater even than in Could 2020, firstly of the pandemic. About 20 % of respondents additionally famous that they particularly wouldn’t think about touring internationally proper now.

Vacationers who’re planning journey are leaning in the direction of refundable choices (39 %), are ready longer to ebook journey (35 %) and usually tend to buy a journey insurance coverage plan (25 %).

One other new examine carried out by Longwoods Worldwide has discovered that the share of People planning journey within the subsequent six months has risen to 91 %, a big majority that could possibly be spurred on by decreasing case counts in some states. One-third of the survey’s respondents say that the pandemic will enormously impression their choice to journey within the subsequent six months, down a 3rd from April 2020’s journey sentiment.

Warning and adaptableness appear to be the tendencies all through the pandemic, although the rise in vacationers deciding to attend and see what the way forward for the pandemic brings could possibly be a rising development sooner or later, if the pandemic doesn’t abate this 12 months.

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