PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As the typically busy holiday travel season approaches, a flurry of questions remain: how will people celebrate this year? Will that include trips? And if so, which destinations are safely open for tourism? Vacasa, North America’s leading vacation rental management company, released its 2020 Holiday Travel Trends & Destination Best Bets today to shed a string of lights on what’s in store for the season ahead.
Last month, Vacasa and Allison+Partners conducted an independent survey* of 1,000+ Americans over the age of 18 who plan to travel over the holidays, to find out where, how and why they’re traveling. It’s no surprise that the pandemic ranked as a major factor in how festivities will play out and that many findings align with current CDC recommendations, which list road trips and staying in vacation rentals as a family among lower-risk travel options.
Here are key insights the survey unwrapped:
- On average, most U.S. consumers—or 43% of those surveyed—will be traveling for 4–6 hours to get to their holiday destination, with more than three quarters planning to travel by car.
- There’s a conscious effort to travel responsibly with nearly three quarters of people saying they will change their travel plans if there is a COVID-19 spike in or near the area they are traveling to for the holidays.
- While more than half of U.S. consumers plan to travel to their hometown for the holidays (or that of a significant other or a friend), 2 in 5 plan to travel to a vacation destination.
- Consumers’ top reasons for traveling for the holidays this year are: to spend quality time with friends and family (52%); rest and relaxation (38%); and to have an adventure or discover a new place (29%). A quarter say their biggest motivator is that they have been unable to see their family and friends recently due to the pandemic.
- Many Americans’ holiday spirit seems to have stayed strong, despite the disruption caused by the coronavirus this year: 66% say they will definitely be decorating for the holidays, and 56% say that they’ll even be giving more gifts this year compared to the 2019 holidays.
“It’s challenging to predict how people will spend the holidays amidst the uncertainty of the pandemic, but our survey results show clear trends that people are craving the gift of quality time and are eager to connect through lower-risk modes of travel, if it’s safe to do so,” said Josh Viner, travel expert at Vacasa.
The full report on Vacasa’s 2020 Holiday Travel Trends & Destination Best Bets can be viewed here.
*Vacasa and Allison+Partners surveyed 1,026 individuals age 18 and older in the U.S., who plan on traveling over the 2020 holiday season. The survey was fielded using the Qualtrics Insight Platform, and panel was sourced from Lucid. Fielding was executed in October 2020.
About Vacasa
Whether travelers are looking to book a weekend getaway or the trip of a lifetime, Vacasa is the trusted partner for all things vacation rental. Vacasa homeowners enjoy industry-leading financial returns on their vacation homes, delivered by the company’s unmatched technology platform that adjusts rates in real time and ensures revenue is always maximized. Guests can relax comfortably in one of Vacasa’s 25,000+ professionally managed homes, knowing that 24/7 customer care is just a phone call away. In the past 10 years, Vacasa and its licensed subsidiaries have grown to become North America’s largest full-service vacation rental management platform. For more information, visit https://www.vacasa.com/press. The Vacasa app is available to download on the Apple Store and Google Play.
