Report Overview
In January, 40% of Americans traveled. While this was 5 percentage points lower than December 2021, seasonality is more of a factor than the Omicron surge. Now that Omicron is in retreat and most U.S. states have ended or are planning to end mask mandates following the federal guidelines, we are expecting more normalcy in the coming months.
Two trends stood out in our January Travel Tracker survey. First, we saw a noticeable increase in vacation rental and all-inclusive resort stays. The strength of vacation rentals is consistent with the January data from our newly rebranded and relaunched Skift Travel Health Index — previously known as Skift Recovery Index. Similarly, in our recently published 2022 Travelers: A Multi-Country Survey Report, we found that the Covid exhaustion will likely drive more people to places where they can relax or enjoy nature. Vacation rentals and resorts might continue to rise in popularity, at least in the near future.
Second, the pent-up demand for outbound travel continues to push up the international travel rate. Nearly 9% of January 2022 trips were to a different country, even higher than January 2020, before the pandemic hit.
What You'll Learn From This Report
- Travel incidences, January 2020–January 2022
- January 2022 travel highlights
- Covid impacted travel, January 2021–January 2022
- Changing consumer sentiments on the economic outlook, February 2020–February 2022
- Consumer intent for 2022 travel
- Remote work trend and its impact on travel and mobility
- Covid vaccine rate and its impact on travel