Over 85 Million Americans to Travel for the Christmas Holiday, Survey Says

The numbers on Thanksgiving 2020 travel are now in, revealing that millions of Americans either flew or took road trips to meet with friends and family for holiday celebrations, despite dire warnings from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that doing so would almost certainly contribute to the current surge of COVID-19 infections afflicting the entire country.

Now, it’s just a few weeks until the winter holidays are upon us, offering another occasion for friends and relatives across the nation to congregate. Eric Jones, a Mathematics Instructor at Rowan College in New Jersey’s Gloucester County, recently conducted a study to gauge U.S. adults’ intentions and attitudes towards traveling for Christmas this year. His findings have just been published in The Vacationer’s Holiday Travel Survey 2020.

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The survey sought to examine how the ongoing pandemic will impact the end-of-year holidays. Below are some of the findings taken from key survey questions.

Do you plan on traveling to a gathering or vacation destination during Christmas this year?

Over 33 percent of respondents said that they plan on some form of travel—be it by car, bus, train or airplane—over the Christmas holiday period, while close to 63 percent said no, they’d be staying put this year. As an aside, seventeen percent of those who’ll be traveling for Christmas also indicated that they’d travel over Thanksgiving.

Has the pandemic changed/canceled your holiday travel plans?

Sixty-one percent answered in the affirmative, while 25 said that their plans remained unaffected and 14 percent were still waiting to decide. Of those surveyed, New England-area residents were the most likely to say that the pandemic had altered or canceled their holiday plans (80 percent), which coincides with the New England region currently having some of the tightest COVID-19 restrictions in the country.

Has Pandemic Fatigue increased your interest in traveling for the holidays?

Forty-five percent said yes, while 55 percent said no. Based on the current U.S. census, this means nearly 115 million American adults have taken more interest in holiday travel due to Pandemic Fatigue.

Interestingly, the effects of Pandemic Fatigue were seen to increase and respondents’ ages decreased, making younger people more likely to travel for the 2020 holidays.

Are you more or less likely to go on a vacation or travel to see family compared to March/April?

Twenty-four percent said they’re more likely to travel now than when the pandemic first struck, while 45 percent said they’re less likely to do so and around 31 percent indicated that their sentiments are about the same as they were in the spring.

Notably, while Pandemic Fatigue had increased interest in travel for 45 percent of respondents, less than a quarter of those surveyed said they’re more likely to actually travel now than they were at the start of the pandemic. When those percentages are applied to the U.S. population, that translates to nearly 116 million folks who’re more interested in traveling, but just 61 million being more willing to do so.

Do you feel safe traveling on an airplane for the holidays?

Twelve percent said yes and indicated that they’d be traveling on an airplane for the holidays, while another 25 said they’d feel safe flying, but didn’t plan on doing so for this year’s holidays.

Six percent of respondents said that they don’t feel safe flying on an airplane, but will be doing so anyway during holiday travel. The 58-percent majority of those surveyed said they don’t feel safe getting on an airplane and they won’t be flying during the holidays this year.