05/06/2022

Updates 05/06/2022: Ohio's Travel Industry and Current Travel Research

GAS PRICES AND INFLATION IMPACTING TRAVEL PLANS, YET AMERICAN TRAVELERS ARE STILL PRIORITIZING LEISURE TRAVEL

Key findings from Destination Analysts fielded April 2022.

• Inflation in consumer prices has led 23% of American travelers to cancel an upcoming trip, while 38% of American travelers agree that high prices have kept them from traveling in the past month.
• If gasoline prices don’t come down, 58% of American travelers predict they will be taking fewer road trips this spring and summer, and 60% predict they will be staying closer to home on their road trips.
• Fewer American travelers are now saying that luxury travel experiences are important to their leisure trips (36% down from 40% last month).
• Americans are still prioritizing their leisure travel. Nearly 90% have trips planned—3.0 on average. And despite the economic concerns, 61% continue to say their leisure travel is a high priority in their budget for the next three months.
• More than 80% did some trip dreaming and planning just in the last week alone.
• Only one-third of American travelers feel COVID will have a meaningful impact on their travel experiences, and fewer than one-in-five recent travelers felt pandemic anxiety on their last trip.
• Nearly two-thirds of American travelers feel it’s likely companies will require more employees to return to the office in the remainder of the year. However, only 37% of American travelers expect that business travel will return to pre-pandemic levels in 2022, as 65% believe that virtual meetings will continue to replace many in-person meetings.
• More than half of business travelers will take a business trip in the next three months.