Politics Are an Increasing Factor in Traveler’s Destinations Choices

Love it or hate it, politics are playing an increasing role in travel choices made by consumers.

In fact, 37 percent of American travelers say the political reputation of potential destinations is a factor in their travel selections, according to a new tracking study from the Ohio-based travel and tourism research consultancy Longwoods International.

Moreover, 14 percent of travelers say they would avoid some destinations entirely because of its political reputation.

“In a divided country and during a presidential election year, it is not surprising that the perceived political environment of destinations would impact travel decision-making for some travelers,”  Amir Eylon, President and CEO of Longwoods International, said in a statement.

“It is for this reason we believe it is important for destinations to understand how potential visitors view them and their brand, not just politically, but for a wide range of attributes important to visitors,” Eylon added.

Need more evidence of what Eylon is saying?

Thirty-two percent of travelers say that a destination’s reputation for being welcoming and inclusive to diverse groups impacts their decision to travel to specific destinations.

A further 18 percent of travelers have changed or canceled their plans to visit some destinations due to concerns about the welcomeness or inclusiveness of those destinations.

The report however, did not indicate which destinations around the world are being impacted by such choices among consumers or which destinations are viewed as being especially welcoming and inclusive.

To gather these insights, Longwood’s conducted a survey on July 10 using a national sample randomly drawn from a consumer panel of 1,000 adults, ages 18 and over.

Quotas were used to match Census targets for age, gender, and region to make the survey representative of the U. S. population.

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