Americans are venturing forth with confidence

2023-07-24

A lot of people are traveling right now.

That statement has been true for some time as pandemic-weary consumers hit the road after the omicron variant dealt its blows in early 2021, and they haven’t really stopped. Busy travel advisors know that well.

Allianz Partners USA’s Vacation Confidence Index, released this month, further emphasized that Americans remain confident in their ability to take a vacation this year.

Ipsos Public Affairs has been conducting the study for Allianz every summer since 2009. It polled Americans who were age 18 or up from May 2 to 4.

This year, 23% of respondents said they had already taken a vacation in the months leading up to the survey. That’s the second-highest metric reported since the survey began.

In total, 62% said they had taken a vacation in the past year, up from 48% before the pandemic in 2019. And 66% had positive intentions to take a vacation this year, which is tracking “well above” prepandemic surveys, Allianz said.

All evidence points to travel advisors continuing to be busy going forward.

For travelers looking at their client bases, Allianz found that the under-55 crowd was most confident about vacationing.

Of course, there are also some who are not confident they will take a vacation. This year, that figure stands at 19%, on par with the past few years. That number spiked in 2020, when 44% of Americans who felt vacations were important were not confident they would take one. That figure hit an all-time low in 2012 when it stood at 18%, just one percentage point lower than this year.

Ipsos polled 2,010 Americans for this year’s survey.

Where are travelers headed in the fall

Fall is just a few months away, and it looks like Europe will again be a top destination for travelers.

Insurance marketplace VisitorsCoverage found that 86.5% of travelers will head to Europe this fall, with France, Italy, Spain and Germany the top destinations.

But second to Europe is North America. VisitorsCoverage found 20% of travelers had trips planned to North America, most to the United States.

Courtesy of Travel Weekly