MMGY's latest Portrait of the American Traveler paints a rosy picture of the industry's future.
After two years of uncertainty, MMGY's research forecasts ongoing improvement and growth in both the leisure and business travel sectors.
As the pandemic begins to wane, the perceived safety of travel has improved by leaps and bounds.
Americans see domestic travel as far safer now than two years ago. In April of 2020, as the world was still in the process of shutting down, domestic travel bottomed out with just 30 percent of Americans thinking it was safe. Now, in February of 2022, that number is at 70 percent.
International travel has bounced back slowly but is far better now than in 2020 when only 20 percent of Americans thought it was safe to go abroad. That number has more than doubled in 2022 with 49 percent of Americans believing International travel is safe.
Admittedly, this data, collected before Russia's war in Ukraine broke out, could be slightly more optimistic than the current situation.
MMGY fielded a new survey to gauge travel sentiments on travel to Europe following the outbreak of war and the data suggests Americans are in a wait-and-see mode when it comes to travel to the continent.
Forty-seven percent will see how the situation in Ukraine evolves before making their travel plans. Twenty percent said that the war will not affect their decisions about travel to Europe and an equal number said that they will likely delay or reschedule their trip to the region. Thirteen percent said that the war will likely or definitely cause Americans to cancel their plans.
The war in Ukraine is far more likely to weigh on travel plans than COVID-19 in 2022 with 62 percent of Americans indicating that their plans are impacted by the potential for the Russia/Ukraine war to spread to other nearby countries.
COVID-19 Continues to Impact Travel Plans
MMGY found that the percentage of travelers who are getting vaccinated continues to rise while the number of travelers who do not wan the vaccine remains constant.
However, travelers who are vaccinated and those who are not vaccinated have similar intentions regarding traveling. Fifty-three percent of those who are vaccinated are planning to travel in the next three months. Forty-nine percent of unvaccinated travelers also intend to travel during the same period.
COVID-19 is still grounding some people. Of the 22 percent of travelers that don't expect to travel in the next six months, COVID is the primary reason. This group also tends to be older and less affluent.
Top Domestic Travel Destinations
Domestically, travelers are looking to a wide range of experiences.
Warm-weather, outdoorsy, beach destinations take the top spots on both the top states and top cities Americans are looking to visit with Hawaii leading the way. Big cities are still in the mix, however, with Las Vegas, New York City and New Orleans all making the top 10 destinations American travelers want to visit.
Top 10 U.S. States
1 Hawaii 61%
2 Florida 60%
3 California 56%
4 Colorado 49%
4 New York 49%
6 Alaska 48%
7 Arizona 46%
8 Nevada 45%
9 Texas 43%
10 Georgia 40%
Top 10 U.S. Destinations
1 Las Vegas, NV 54%
2 Honolulu, HI 54%
3 Island of Hawai'i 53%
4 Maui, HI 52%
5 Florida Keys/Key West, FL 51%
6 Kaua'i, HI 50%
7 Orlando, FL 49%
8 New York City, NY 48%
9 Miami, FL 45%
10 New Orleans, LA 45%
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