Americans are ready to travel as their omicron fears fade
Americans' enthusiasm for travel has rebounded to levels unseen since the broad rollout of Covid-19 vaccines last year, as their wanderlust eclipses hesitation fueled by the omicron and delta virus variants.
Nearly 82% of people are in a «ready to travel» mindset in 2022 — a 5-percentage-point increase in just the last two weeks, according to a survey of 1,200 American travelers published Monday by Destination Analysts, a tourism market research firm.
The findings suggest would-be travelers have largely brushed off the shock of the highly contagious omicron variant, which pushed caseloads to record levels and upended travel plans over the winter holiday season.
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«Travel sentiment recovered very quickly,» said Erin Francis-Cummings, president and CEO of Destination Analysts, which has conducted bi-weekly polls of U.S. travelers since March 2020. «The ready-to-go mindset is essentially the highest it's been,» she added, calling the metric a leading indicator of optimism.
More than 92% of respondents will take at least one trip in 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. Over three-quarters have dreamed about and planned travel just in the last week — a rate unseen since last summer.
Travel enthusiasm had previously begun gaining steam around midyear 2021, when a broad swath of Americans became eligible for a Covid vaccine. But the delta variant dampened that outlook, and again when omicron fears emerged around Thanksgiving.
«Early summer 2021 was the
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