Americans are looking forward to starting Labor Day holiday weekend

An increase in Covid-19 infections due to the delta variant may be holding back the pandemic’s rebound, but Labor Day travelers looking for a hurricane last summer – and with the shadow of possible future blockades on the mind – they are anxious to get on the road.

This is despite ongoing concerns about Covid-19 and related restrictions, such as targeting and site masking and vaccination requirements, recent studies have shown.

So far, 75% of people surveyed by travel site The Vacationer and SurveyMonkey on Aug. 1 said the coronavirus remained a “mild” or “big” concern, according to co-founder Eric Jones. Still, Jones said he believes Labor Day trips have increased “because people want to make sure they get something done.”

“There’s talk of new quarantine rules or blockages … so some are worried they won’t travel again,” Jones added, noting that in a previous survey this summer.

The Vacationer found that 25% of Americans plan the so-called revenge trip. “That’s traveling more than they usually do, just because they were bottled at home,” Jones said. “So I guess for Labor Day, this is one of the last opportunities they will have for this summer.”

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In fact, the latest The Vacationers survey found that more than 53% of 571 people applied for a plan to travel for Labor Day holidays, with 4.03% on public transport, 12.08% on flights and 36.95% by car. The finding would mean, if extrapolated to the total U.S. population, that 137 million American adults will travel this weekend, according to the site, an increase over July 4 and more than 10% more than the total of Easter and Memorial Day weekends combined.

For its part, Tripadvisor found that only 31% of Americans surveyed planned to leave this weekend, at the same level as 2020 (32%) and even 2019 (35%).

Elizabeth Monahan, senior communications manager and U.S. travel expert at the site, said that “in terms of a long weekend, that’s pretty consistent.” Tripadvisor found that 86% of travelers will stay in the United States, with 45% traveling locally by car or train and 41% taking domestic flights. Only 14% plan to travel abroad.

Among the older cohorts, millennials are the most eager to travel, with 38%, followed by Generation X of 32% and Generation Z of 31%. Older Americans are much less likely to leave this week, with only 13% of baby boomers traveling.

Millennials, who are often believed to be in their 30s and 40s, are more likely to be parents of children who have been home schooling for the past year, perhaps explaining the demographic urge to leave home, Monahan noted. .

“This group, in particular, has really lost some of the great memories that can be gained through travel and experience from different parts of the world with those closest to you,” he said.

Not only do surveys show a growing interest in Labor Day travel, but they also appear in difficult sales data. TripIt, based on Concur’s data analysis, showed that domestic flight bookings, car rentals, accommodation and holiday rentals were 53%, 75%, 62% and 46%, respectively, compared to on Labor Day 2019. This exceeded Memorial Day weekend, when flights were only at 33% of 2019 levels; car and accommodation rental bookings have also increased significantly since late May.

Jen Moyse, senior product director at TripIt, said the results of the analysis are not “a big surprise”.

“What we’ve seen in our studies so far is that people feel more comfortable traveling and that’s reflected in the bookings,” he said. “As soon as the vaccines came out, we saw the level of comfort grow.”

In terms of spending, 39.4% of those surveyed said they save zero cash this weekend for travel, The Vacationer found. But of the people traveling, most travelers will spend less than $ 500, up 37.13%, while 12.08% will spend between $ 501 and $ 1,000, according to The Vacationer survey. Meanwhile, 11.38% will spend $ 1,001 or more. That means nearly 1 in 4 adults will spend more than $ 500 this weekend.

TripIt found that travelers stay longer once out, with accommodation bookings for trips of 8 to 13 days and trips of more than 14 days with a factor of 10 from 2019. Moyse attributes this to people who also participate in leisure stays on business trips only want to stay away longer once they decide to travel. “If I go out, I will travel as I say,” he said.

According to Tripadvisor, flexibility remains important for travelers; filters such as “free cancellation”, “pay per stay” and “safe travel” are among the most clicked on the site.

“The biggest advantage people are looking for is cleanliness, but right now flexibility is a priority,” Monahan said. “The more flexibility the different hospitality sectors can offer to guests, these are the providers that will gain the most business.”

They also booked flights on Labor Day weekend later this year, and TripIt found 51% bookings in July, compared to only 18% in 2020. Tripadvisor has also seen a trend towards last minute booking. The site found that 70% of bookings booked in the first week of August were for travel within three weeks.

Moyse at TripIt attributed this behavior to people who are aware that conditions change day by day.

“Some of that is looking at the current conditions, thinking,‘ Am I ready to go? summer only to tighten them again.

Three out of four respondents to The Vacationer said Covid-19 is a “mild” or “big” concern for Labor Day. Nearly half are concerned that (with 46.06%) either a family member or a friend (46.76%) may contract Covid, and 37.83% are concerned that they may spread it unknowingly. Mask requirements (28.55%) and tests or vaccines (20.32%) were also a cause for concern, whether respondents were for or against these mandates. Only 16.99% had no worries.

Moyse told TripIt that “there is still some nervousness [and] they still care. “

However, this may be due to the surprise rise of the delta variant. “Once the delta variant has been with us for a while, we may see other responses from people,” he added.

“But right now people are learning to disguise themselves, to learn to take precautions, to learn to plan ahead and that’s one of the tips we’ve been giving frequently,” Moyse added. “Think about how to plan your trip a little differently than you did in 2019.”

Of course, Tripadvisor has found that beaches and national parks, largely outdoor spaces that became popular amid pandemic closures last year, remain the most sought-after attractions in August.

“When people are looking to go out and travel, they want to do it safely in places like the outdoors or the beaches or go hiking, we even see a lot of interest even in the campsites,” Monahan said. “The places to enjoy a beautiful view, but also to practice social distancing, have been very strong trends and we are seeing it for Labor Day weekend as well.”

The trend is reflected in the comparison of Tripadvisor’s top destinations for this Labor Day with those of 2019, when more urban locations were popular. This year, Ocean City, Maryland, has taken first place, surpassing the former No. 1 destination of Las Vegas in third place, and 10 of the top 15 destinations are destinations with warm weather or on the beach. Two years ago, by contrast, 10 of the top 15 places were big cities.

That said, don’t count on the city definitely staying out.

“We’re starting to see some places like New York and even Chicago are starting to resurface,” Monahan said.

The Big Apple, number 2 in 2019, managed to stay in fifth place this year and the Windy City, once the sixth most popular, remains an attraction at number 14.