Are your travel plans ruined because of the Coronavirus pandemic? If you’re reading offMetro.com at this time, meaning you can’t stand COVID-19, and you can’t wait to get out there. You can’t wait to pick a location again, call up some friends, pack a light rucksack, take the bus, train or your bike, and explore!
Unfortunately, we’re not there yet. All experts are advising us not to travel yet, and it looks like most Americans are following nicely. However, aren’t you curious to know when most explorers (like us) plan to be back on the trail again and resume their travel plans?
Well, UpgradedPoints surveyed 1,250 people around the country to find out when and if they’d resume their travel plans during the coronavirus crisis. They also checked what people were most afraid about and what would make them feel comfortable enough to travel again.
Here are a few highlights of the survey:
- 20% said they will not travel again until 2021
- 20% of Americans aged 18-25 said they’d be comfortable traveling as soon as April 2020
- The biggest concern for American travelers is contracting COVID-19 and spreading it to friends or family members.
- Less than 1% of people are concerned about getting stuck somewhere as a result of a quarantine.
- 51% say they will feel comfortable enough to travel again when the government or health officials give the all-clear signal.
In-Depth Analysis of Americans’ Travel Plans During Coronavirus
As we looked deeper into the survey results – we found some really interesting findings. For example, if you analyze the data by age, 20% of the younger guys and gals, aged 18-25 are willing to travel again in April 2020, while 13% said they’d travel within the next two weeks. Only 11% said they wouldn’t travel again until 2021.
Check out the details:
What scares Americans most about traveling during the COVID-19 pandemic?
According to the survey, 41% of Americans said their biggest concern was to contract the coronavirus. The 2nd biggest concern (32%) of Americans was the fear of them spreading the virus among their family members or friends.
Almost 70% of Americans aged 65+ said that contracting the virus was their biggest concern.
10% of Americans have no concerns at all about traveling at this time.
What would make you feel comfortable to travel again?
When asked about the factors that would make them feel comfortable traveling again, the majority of Americans (51%) said that an “all clear” from the government or health officials would do it. However, almost 30% of Americans said that no new cases of Coronavirus in the destination they’re traveling to would be the most important factor.
Finally, when asked if there was an airline ticket price low enough for them to buy for a non-business journey – 36% of Americans said no matter how cheap the tickets cost – they wouldn’t travel on an airplane. Isn’t that a great green development? We at offMetro definitely support that.
However, almost 20% of Americans said they would buy roundtrip tickets if they’d cost between $26 yo $50. If you look into the gender and age factors, it gets interesting. 42% of women said they wouldn’t travel on an airplane, no matter the price, compared to only 32% of men who said the same. As to older Americans, almost 80% of those aged 65+ said they wouldn’t travel on an airplane at these times, regardless of price, whereas only 24% of those aged 18 to 25 said the same.
Here are the details:
UPDATE: A day after publishing this – we found a few more surveys on this topic. One of them, conducted by LuggageHero, suggests that 58% of Americans are planning to travel again between May and September (2020), of course – as long as the destination they are traveling to isn’t in lockdown. Other fascinating stats relevant to offMetro, are that 25% of Americans will try and avoid big cities or public transportation, and 21% will prefer domestic travel.
Our Thoughts
Coronavirus is a serious public health concern and a huge disruption to the travel industry. Americans, and probably Europeans, Asians and most people around the world, are not traveling for non-essential, non-business reasons. The survey doesn’t reveal when exactly people will start traveling again, but it does provide an interesting glimpse of what Americans are thinking as they look ahead.
We at offMetro believe that all humans are explorers, wanderers, and travelers at heart. You cannot change that.
We also believe that Americans will start to favor domestic travel over international. They’ll look for travel destinations closer to home, short (and hopefully Green) getaways from the big city, the ones we at offMetro promote.
It won’t take too long until we pack our light rucksack again…
Until then, stay safe!
Sarah Knapp is a Brooklyn based entrepreneur whose love for the outdoors and community building led her to the October 2013 creation of OutdoorFest. She has a BA in History, is a Wilderness First Responder and a NY state hiking, camp and boating guide. Her proudest achievement to date is reading the Aeneid in Latin. 
Allison was one of our first top writers and Chief Editor but is no longer working with offMetro. Allison is a native New Yorker, who has lived in Rome, Tuscany, Melbourne, Toronto and Los Angeles. She frequently contributed travel pieces to Family Travel Forum, using her own children as guinea pigs as they travel the globe. She never missed a chance to sample local delicacies, as her love for travel goes hand-in-hand with her love for food and wine. 
Josh Laskin is a freelance travel writer and photographer based in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. When he is not at work or on the road, you can find him in the mountains snowboarding, climbing, hiking, fly fishing, mountain biking, and eating bagel bites.
Annie is a travel writer, environmentalist, and surfer based in Venice, CA. She heads up our West Coast team, keeps our grammatical errors in check, and makes sure our California writers always have a plan for their next adventure. Follow Annie’s travels @annelisemcb.
Carly Pifer is a freelance writer who has been known to follow whims inspired by romantic movie scenes or colorful street style shots to India, Japan, Tunisia and Argentina. After stints living in Seoul, Boston, Paris and Los Angeles, writing and searching for something intangible, she landed somewhat steadily in Brooklyn and has begun to find inspiration in her more immediate surroundings. 
Kate E. O’Hara is a New York based freelance writer and photographer who loves all things food—especially the people who make it and market it. Her writing aims to capture the essence of the food experience; the stories that go well beyond a plate of ingredients. In addition to her love of food, Kate is also known to have a hankering for red wine and craft beer. You can also find Kate on Instagram