According to LuggageHero’s latest , almost half of the European respondents are planning winter holidays.
Other key findings:
- While only 13% of the respondents had planned a domestic trip when 2020 had started, 38% have actually traveled inside their countries so far, due to the international travel restrictions. When it comes to the touristic destinations, cities have become less attractive, receiving only 37% of the respondents. That is in contrast to travelers’ original plans. At the beginning of this year, 77% had planned at least one city break for 2020.
- As many as 53% of the European participants are still planning to go on winter holidays, with almost one third wanting to travel only inside their country.
Since the pandemic lockdowns started, the short-term luggage storage company LuggageHero has regularly polled travelers in Europe, the United States and the rest of the world. This current customer survey was conducted October 20-26, 2020, via online forms and ensured gender and age balance. Here are the findings in detail for this month’s perception, and you can also check out the reports for July, May, April or March.
New Year’s Resolutions could not be realized
Even though Europeans have wished for many trips when this year started, the travel restrictions and health concerns have limited many of those wishes: while only 11% of the European participants in this month’s survey had not planned a trip for 2020, almost three times more (31%) ended up staying home during the first 10 months of the year.
In regards to those who did travel, 38% of the respondents have taken at least one trip inside the country so far, three times more than they’d planned before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Besides distance, types of holidays also have changed during 2020, bringing city breaks down to 37% of the Europeans’ choice, a steep decrease from the 77% who expected to take a city break when health and travel restrictions were not such key points in planning.
Travel to nature areas did not pick up much of the loss of city travel, as outdoors travel increased only 5% compared to initial plans.
What’s next?
As the time goes by, Europeans are getting used to this new and more cautious way of traveling, and are feeling enthusiastic about the months to come. More than half of the European participants (53%) are planning their winter holidays, hoping that the predicted future waves of infections will be controlled and that a vaccine might become available soon. It is also true that almost one third of these travelers (30%) will stay closer to home, considering only movement inside their countries.
What will travel look like in the upcoming months?
Short-term accommodations are still preferred above hotels because travelers feel that independent lodging allows them to practice proper hygiene and risk management when it comes to COVID-19 infection. Only 14% of the European respondents think that hotels are a better option, while 41% will not use external accommodation during the winter holidays.
In regards to finance, the 2020 travel budget was severely impacted by the pandemic, with only 36% of the initial travel funds untouched. The big cuts are still happening, as 40% of the participants from Europe stated that they have reduced their travel spending for this year by more than 40% compared to initial planning. That dip represents the greatest financial impact since LuggageHero started polling on this subject in March.
“These results certainly reflect what we’re seeing with our luggage storage activity – more people are traveling inside their own countries and using short-term rentals, which is our primary market,” said Jannik Lawaetz, CEO and co-founder of LuggageHero.
“We are optimistic about travel in 2021, but also relieved that people are being cautious and safe, because that is the key to travel returning at a responsible pace,” he added.
Immediately after the pandemic began, LuggageHero instituted changes to become a touchless hospitality provider. Reservations are made on its app and customers handle their own tamper-free security seals during the storage process. As always, cancellation is totally free.
Tags: LuggageHero
