Skift Take

Labor Day weekend didn’t provide a much-needed boost for the U.S travel sector. In September, 37 percent of Americans traveled, barely one percentage point higher than in August. The path of travel recovery ahead might be even rockier with summer vacation officially behind us.

Labor Day weekend didn’t provide a much-needed boost for the U.S travel sector. According to Skift Research’s latest U.S. Travel Tracker survey, 37 percent of Americans traveled in September, which is only one percentage point higher than in August.

July and August travel recovery were led by resumed summer vacations, with vacationing accounting for 41 percent of all trips in July and 39 percent in August. As summer drew to an end, vacation made up only 35 percent of all trips in September. Visiting families and friends rose again as the leading travel purpose, accounting for 37 percent of all trips in September.

With summer behind us, year-end holidays still some time away, and yet another round of rising coronavirus cases, the U.S. travel industry might face more setbacks in the next couple of months. As reflected in the survey, the number of consumers who are very concerned about the virus and expect to delay travel are on the rise again.

Skift Research introduced a monthly U.S. travel tracking survey in January 2020 to examine the travel penetration rates and detailed travel behavior of the U.S. population. In addition to the factual travel occurrences, we also asked respondents their perceptions on the macro-level economic condition as well their personal financial and travel outlook. As we move through different phases of Covid-19, our monthly survey captures the fluctuations of consumer travel behavior and intent in real time.

In our newly released U.S. Travel Tracker September report, we highlight new and ongoing trends in travel incidences, consumer sentiments and future travel intents in the pandemic world, distilled from our September Travel Tracker survey.
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What You’ll Learn From This Report

  • Travel incidences, Jan – Sep 2020
  • August travel highlights
  • Covid-19 impacted travel, Feb – Sep 2020
  • Changing consumer sentiments on the economic outlook, Feb – Oct 2020
  • Changing consumer intent on future travel, April – Oct 2020

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This is the latest in a series of reports and data products that Skift Research puts out to help you analyze the impact of the coronavirus on the travel industry. Tap into the opinions and insights of our seasoned network of staffers and contributors. Over 200 hours of desk research, data collection, and/or analysis goes into each report.

After you subscribe, you will gain access to our entire vault of reports conducted on topics ranging from technology to marketing strategy to deep dives on key travel brands. You will also be able to access our proprietary Skift Recovery Index and Skift Health Score data and reports.

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Tags: consumer behavior, consumer sentiment, consumer travel trends, covid-19, skift research, traveltracker

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