Travel Intent For 2022 Continues to Climb, While Consumers Remain Cautious About Holiday 2021 Plans
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- ZETA
Zeta Pulse uncovers that more consumers will travel this holiday season compared to 2020, but most plan to stay close to home
Air travel interest has risen to levels not seen since January 2020, signaling a travel resurgence in 2022
Traveler needs reflect "new normal" with pet-friendliness replacing room cleanliness as top search priority
NEW YORK, October 21, 2021--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Zeta Global, a cloud-based marketing technology company that empowers enterprises to acquire, grow, and retain customers more efficiently, today released travel trends ahead of the second consecutive holiday season during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Travel continues to rebound from its 2020 downturn, with vaccinations and booster shots creating a higher level of consumer confidence and inspiring significant intent to book airfare and hotels in the future. However, according to our Zeta Pulse consumer sentiment survey of ~1000 people across the US, most people (53.6%) prefer to stay close to home this holiday season with COVID-19 still being a top concern.
Furthermore, with the United States planning to lift travel restrictions for fully vaccinated foreign visitors starting in November (details here), data from Zeta’s partnership with Adara demonstrates international bookings are beginning to rapidly rise.
Below are top travel trends heading into winter 2021/2022:
Holiday Travel
People are planning to stay closer to home for the holidays:
53.6% of consumers would rather stay home, with 30% willing to travel longer distances and 16.36% still undecided
COVID-19 remains the top concern for travelers (39.74%), followed by destination ticket prices/availability (19.23%) and vaccination requirements (10.26%)
Travel by car is the most preferred way to travel for second year in a row (37.14%), compared to air travel (25.71%), cruise (17.14%), bus (11.43%) and train (8.57%)
Adults aged 18-29 with a household income between $30k and $99K are the most likely to travel this holiday season
Women aged 18-29 & 40-60+ are the least likely to travel during the holidays, citing COVID-19 safety concerns
International bookings for both air and hotels have started to surge, with timing of spike correlated to the US’s recent policy change allowing entry for fully vaccinated foreign travelers (Adara)
International air travel and hotel bookings began spiking on September 13 and have risen ~10x since then
Compared to 2019, 2021 international air travel and hotel bookings are still down ~60%
Compared to 2020, there has been a 2.3x increase in flight demand and 3x in hotel bookings
Major cities including New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and San Francisco are among the most popular destinations
Hotel/Motel Bookings
Hotel bookings continue to recover at a steady rate. 2021 bookings are higher than 2020, but have not quite reached pre-pandemic levels
Compared to 2019 (pre-pandemic), 2021 hotel bookings have decreased only 31% during August-October for November-December check-ins
Compared to 2020, there have been 2x more bookings made in 2021 (to date) for November-December check-ins (this ratio has been consistent since the start of summer)
Traveling consumers prefer to stay in hotels over family/friends or private rentals
48% of responders plan to stay in hotels or motels during their holiday travel
22.45% budget hotels/motels
20.41% national hotel chains
6.12% boutique/luxury hotels
24.49% plan to stay with friends or family
18.37% plan to camp or stay in RV sites
8.16% private rentals (AirBnb, VRBO, etc.)
Pet-friendliness has become a critical consumer travel need as a result of the pandemic-inspired pet ownership boom
Pet friendly keywords continue to dominate hotel/motel searches (such as "Pet Friendly Hotels/Motels; Pets Stay Free, etc.)
Safe & clean keywords become less relevant than they were earlier in pandemic
Air Travel
Air travel for the holidays is on the road to recovery (Adara)
2021 air travel is up 94% over 2020
Compared to 2019 (pre-pandemic), 2021 air travel is down 61%
However, general interest in air travel interest soars to pre-pandemic levels, forecasting a boom in 2022
Zeta air travel intent data demonstrates highest interest since pre-pandemic travel
46.53% of responders interested in air travel for holiday season 2021 (November-December) are mostly from states more prone to harsh winter weather
About Zeta
Zeta Global Holdings Corp. (NYSE: ZETA) is a leading data-driven, cloud-based marketing technology company that empowers enterprises to acquire, grow and retain customers. The Company’s Zeta Marketing Platform (the "ZMP") is the largest omnichannel marketing platform with identity data at its core. The ZMP analyzes billions of structured and unstructured data points to predict consumer intent by leveraging sophisticated artificial intelligence to personalize experiences at scale. Founded in 2007 by David A. Steinberg and John Sculley, the Company is headquartered in New York City. For more information, please go to www.zetaglobal.com.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211021005197/en/
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Megan Rose
press@zetaglobal.com