Most Consumers Expect to Book a Leisure Trip Within the Next Six Months

While consumers are still just as likely to take a domestic leisure trip within the next six months as they were at the same time last month, most say they expect to book a leisure trip within the next six months, according to the latest data from MMGY Travel Intelligence.

MMGY released the sixth wave of its Travel Intentions Pulse Survey (TIPS) on Monday and, while a lot of data from the previous survey remained consistent, there were some important changes in the data that advisors should be aware of.

One finding that is good news for advisors — two-thirds of the 1,200 respondents expect to book a leisure trip within the six months, with 15% of those saying they expect to do so within the next 30 days and 22% saying they expect to do so within the next six months. Only 4% said that they have no leisure travel expectation and 12% said they only expect to book more than 12 months from now.

Travelers who were already hesitant to travel are becoming even more cautious—21% of respondents said they wouldn’t take a leisure trip over the next six months, up from 13% in Wave Five.

Travelers are still much more likely to travel to a destination via car (67%) than any other method of transportation, including by airplane (31% for domestic and 20% for international). Though, overall, more than half of consumers are as likely (29%) or more likely (23%) to travel this fall compared to previous years—48% are less likely, according to the survey.

And, while leisure travel is still struggling, consumers are still more likely to take a leisure trip than they are to travel for business. In the Wave Five survey, 41% expected to take a domestic business trip while 40% expected to take a domestic leisure trip, while Wave Six found business desire drop to 33% and leisure remain the same.

Leisure travel, in fact, has remained essentially unchanged, with 36% to 40% of consumers since March reporting they are likely or extremely likely to take a domestic leisure trip, according to the survey.

MMGY and Travel Market Report today also opened up the survey for the second edition of the Travel Advisors COVID-19 Sentiment Barometer, an online survey designed and analyzed by MMGY Travel Intelligence, the goal of which is to monitor the impact of COVID-19 on travel agencies.

The results of the first edition, which surveyed advisors from June 1 to June 10, were revealed last month.