The State of Travel in 2021
The Journey Ahead—Forecasted Travel Trends for 2021, Based on the Results of Tourlane’s Travel Survey
How have travel trends been influenced by the pandemic, and how will this affect travel in 2021? In October 2020, more than 1,000 participants completed our 13-part questionnaire on travel during 2020 and 2021. We polled our community of travelers, in order to understand how travel has evolved in what has been an unprecedented year, and to demystify what lies ahead.
Have attitudes changed towards transportation, after a stormy year for the cruise industry? How much traffic is forecast for the holiday season? Are vacationers looking to travel closer to home, or are we about to see a boom in long haul “revenge travel” once travel bands are lifted? Find out below!
Travel During the 2020 Holiday Season
In previous years, the days around Thanksgiving were the busiest on record in terms of passenger travel, numerous passenger travel records were broken. Tourlane’s survey found that more than half of Americans will not travel as expected during the 2020 holiday season.
The Future of Travel: Tourlane's Travel Survey
In November 2020, Tourlane polled more than 1,000 travelers to learn about how travel trends have changed in light of the pandemic. The survey results suggest a wave of revenge travel is on the horizon, as more than half of American participants rated travel as a priority 8 or above for next year.
Revenge travel is a term used to describe people’s urge to travel after a period of restricted movement. Analysts from around the world anticipate that leisure travel will rebound with a vengeance in 2021, as travelers seek to make amends for 2020.
Long Haul is About to Take Off
In 2020, vacationers turned to domestic travel, as countries closed their borders to international tourists. Once borders start to reopen, the forecast for international travel is bright: a staggering 85% of Americans want to travel outside of North America in 2021.
Trending Destinations for 2021
From Australia to Argentina, we gave American travelers a choice of destinations from across the world, and asked them to choose their top picks for 2021. While Europe was negatively impacted by Coronavirus in 2020, American travelers are undeterred. The survey reveals that four of the top five trending destinations for 2021 are European. Italy ranks first, narrowly ahead of France, Portugal, and Spain.
The State of Transportation in 2021
As the pandemic unfolded in spring 2020, with borders closing and distancing measures being introduced, the state of the cruise industry and aviation transformed overnight. However, this period of turbulence may be short lived. Only 15% of Americans will avoid cruise ships in future, and only 17% will fly less often.
How We Produced This Study
Tourlane polled more than 1,000 participants from our travel community during the first two weeks of October 2020, using a 13-part questionnaire that we distributed to our email subscribers, website visitors, and social communities. After extensive analysis by our team of Travel Experts, we produced the following guide.
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