GLOBAL vaccine rollouts are driving increasing demand for summer vacations, with vaccinated travellers more likely to stay longer and spend more on their trips than their unvaccinated counterparts, reveals a new research paper by TripAdvisor.
The report, A Shot in The Arm for Travel? Examining the Vaccine’s Impact on Leisure Travel Demand, provides insight into emerging travel planning trends combining behavioural analysis of Tripadvisor’s first-party search data with consumer sentiment analysis gathered via traveller surveys in six major international markets- US, UK, Australia, Italy, Japan and Singapore.
The report identifies clear behavioural differences in how vaccinated and unvaccinated travellers are thinking about travel, and how that is translating into travel planning behaviours on the Tripadvisor platform, with vaccinated travellers more likely to be booking vacations already, and to be planning to stay longer and spend more when they travel.
The findings revealed clear behavioural differences in how vaccinated and unvaccinated travellers are thinking about travel, and how that is translating into travel planning behaviours
In countries like the US and the UK, where the vaccination rollout has reached large swathes of the adult population, eager travellers are pushing the tourism recovery forward. At the other end of the spectrum, countries where the vaccine rollout is at a less advanced stage and new variants of Covid-19 have impacted local populations – particularly across the Asia-Pacific region – are experiencing a slower recovery in leisure travel demand.
“Higher income millennial travellers were driving the demand for leisure travel over the last few months, but heading into the summer the age demographic of travellers now booking up vacations has broadened significantly, at least in countries where large populations have been vaccinated,” said Stephen Kaufer, CEO and co-founder of Tripadvisor, Inc.
“If ever we needed proof that vaccines are the key to long-term recovery in the tourism sector our latest trend data provides it. Now the focus must be on governments and international organisations to ensure vaccines reach every part of the world as quickly as possible and make it as easy as possible for vaccinated tourists to travel globally once again.”
Some key findings from the report:
Vaccine impact on accommodation
The vaccine has a significant impact on the demand for accommodation. Countries where the pace of the vaccination rollout is more advanced, like the US and UK, are powering near-term growth in tourism demand while a more muted recovery picture emerges across the Asia Pacific (APAC) region:
Of the six countries surveyed, Italy has the highest proportion of respondents planning to book a 2021 vacation without yet having done so – 67% intend to book a domestic trip and 41% expect to book an international vacation.
Among Australian respondents, 21% plan to book an international vacation , compared to 6% who already have, despite the current restrictions on outbound international travel there. In the UK, 39% of respondents plan to book an international trip compared to 13% who already have despite the relatively small number of international destinations currently on the UK government’s ‘green list’ for travel.
In the near term current indicators suggest a majority of travellers are opting for the relative security of a domestic vacation in view of the strict restrictions that remain in place on international travel in most markets.
Hotel searches on Tripadvisor in the first week of May for check-in dates during the summer months showed travellers were searching for domestic vacations – 75% of June vacation searches were for domestic destinations, as well as 67% of searches for July and 62% of those looking to get away in August.
However, for trips planned later in the year the same search data (from the first week of May) shows international hotel searches actually making up the majority of trips planned from November 2021 onwards.
Broken down by region: For hotel check-ins planned in September, 54% of the searches by travellers in Europe and the Middle East are for international stays compared to 33% of searches by US travellers and 26% of searches by travellers in the Asia-Pacific region. For December stays, international trips make up 76% of all searches by travellers in Europe and the Middle East, compared to 65% of US searches and 40% of searches in the Asia Pacific region.
Boost to dining and experiences
In the first week of May, US weekly restaurant searches on Tripadvisor were at a higher volume than at any stage since the pandemic began and experience searches were already close to last year’s summer peak.
Restaurants in the UK, France and Italy all experienced a spike in traveller interest in April this year, with dining searches in those countries outpacing the restaurant traffic volumes at the same stage in 2020.
In Australia and Japan the recovery in restaurant traffic has been largely flat, although experience searches in Japan have grown since the start of the year. And while experience searches have seen a seasonal dip in Australia as the colder weather sets in, volumes are still up year-on-year.
Prior to the heightened restrictions in Singapore weekly restaurant searches on Tripadvisor were steadily rising as locals were getting vaccinated and confidence levels were coming back. Among vaccinated travellers surveyed in Singapore, nearly half (46%) said they feel more confident to dine indoors, twenty-two percent (22%) feel more confident to visit a museum, and a quarter (26%) feel more confident to visit a theme park.
Looking at the types of experiences 32% of all searches are for nature and parks attractions, 25% for sights and landmarks. An interesting trend is the rise in searches for in-person shopping experiences, making made up 10% of all experience searches globally at the start of May.
Domestic tourism dominates searches
The survey found that domestic tourism is dominating travel planning searches for the next few months, but for trips further out travellers are already actively planning international travel:
In the first week of May, APAC travellers planning trips on Tripadvisor were overwhelmingly searching for domestic vacations. However, in the following months saw a steady shift of travellers looking to book more trips abroad. Eighty-five percent (85%) of June vacation searches in APAC were for domestic trips, as well as 83% for trips in July and 79% looking to book a local getaway in August
Looking ahead to the end of the year only 60% of hotel searches in December are for domestic trips, while international hotel searches make up the rest.
Return of city breaks
The urban tourism revival is in full swing, said TripAdvisor, with city destinations re-emerging as the trip of choice for vaccinated travellers.
Of those vaccinated respondents who either have booked or are planning to book a vacation in 2021, 32% say they feel more confident about visiting an urban centre as a result of receiving at least one dose of the vaccine. Globally, the same percentage (32%) also plan to take a city break on their next trip, compared to just 20% of vaccinated respondents taking a nature trip.
In Singapore, 35% of vaccinated respondents are planning a city vacation in 2021, compared to 22% who chose the socially-distanced outdoors. The top two most searched destinations in Singapore on Tripadvisor (based on site queries in the first week of May 2021) were for Hong Kong and Bangkok.
Longer trips, higher spend
Globally, 22% of vaccinated respondents plan to take a longer trip than they would have done pre-pandemic, rising to nearly a third (30%) of vaccinated respondents.
During the first week of May, 46% of all international accommodation searches on Tripadvisor were for stays lasting six days or more.
35% of vaccinated travellers surveyed plan to spend more on their next trip compared to what they spent on travel prior to the pandemic, while only 20% of those yet to receive the vaccine plan to do so.
“After such a turbulent year, many in tourism are hopeful that a busy summer will provide a much-needed boost to the tourism industry, so it’s welcome news to see the latest traveller data pointing in that direction, especially for destinations and hospitality businesses that are able to capture the growing demand for domestic vacations,” commented Christopher Hsi, head of market research at TripAdvisor, on the trends:.
“What offers even greater hope for a long-term recovery is the impact the vaccine is having not just on people’s confidence to travel, but also their willingness to turn planning into bookings. As more and more countries make progress on the rollout of the vaccine, and the positive impact that should have on the re-opening of international borders, there is every reason to expect further growth in traveller demand will come.”
• Featured image credit: Mustafa Karcioglu/Getty Images
