Based on results from the Global Rescue Fall 2022 Traveler Sentiment and Safety Survey, travelers are waving off inflation and working around anticipated flight disruptions for the holidays. In addition, business travelers are overwhelmingly planning for 'bleisure' travel.
Despite inflation and the increasing cost of travel, the majority of travelers (77 percent) have not canceled or postponed a domestic or international trip. To overcome airline staff shortages during the fall and winter holidays, more than half of travelers are booking nonstop flights.
"In the face of airline disruptions and the rising cost of travel, travelers are sticking with plans to travel," said Dan Richars, CEO of Global Rescue, the world's leading provider of medical, security, evacuation and travel risk management services and a member of the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board at the U.S. Department of Commerce.
"Travel is back to pre-pandemic levels and that means heavy crowds at airports. Travelers should book nonstop flights whenever possible to avoid delays or cancellations due to airline staff shortages. They should join a trusted traveler program like TSA PreCheck to move through security faster," explained Harding Bush, a former Navy SEAL and manager of security operations for Global Rescue.
According to the survey of more than 1,000 of its current and former members, two-thirds of travelers have planned domestic Thanksgiving or similar holiday travel at the end of November, and 59 percent will travel domestically during December.
The survey also revealed a growth in business travel, though not quite back to pre-pandemic levels. The growing trend of bleisure travel -business travelers tacking leisure days onto a work-related trip may increase growth numbers as the majority of business travelers (73%) plan to use bleisure travel and take a few extra days for personal enjoyment following a business trip.
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