Report Overview

March was a pivotal month for travel companies who have major operations in Europe and North America, as it became real that the two continents were shutting down, like China earlier. Now that the initial shock and immediate reaction and response are over, companies are starting to ask forward-looking questions: When will this be over? When will people start to travel again? How will they travel?

While travel executives need to have a mindset that consumers will constantly shift their behavior and mind as they adjust to different phases of their personal situation as well as the macro-level environment, it is crucial to keep track of shifting behaviors and attitudes as and when they are shaped, for both short-term and long-term recovery solutions.

In our third monthly travel tracker survey, which was fielded on April 8–13, when the entire country was under some level of lockdown, we added more travel intention questions to help address these questions (see the result of our January and February surveys in our U.S. Travel Tracker January and February 2020: Onset of COVID-19 Impact report).

In this report, we reveal findings on how COVID-19 is impacting travel at the moment and what American consumers are thinking about for their future travel when the outbreak is finally behind them.

What You'll Learn From This Report

  • Highlights of March trips in the U.S., compared to January and February
  • COVID-19 related changes for March travel
  • Economic and travel sentiments in March and April 2020, including an outlook on when consumers will start travel
  • Consumer perceptions on how travel preferences might change after the outbreak
  • Trip incidence, destination type, in-destination activities, and trip planning for the U.S. population in January – March 2020