trivago Data Reveals Americans’ Appetite for Travel Strongly Correlated with COVID-19 Case Numbers - Seite 2

“Demand for locations that are familiar and closer to home are on the rise. This trend will likely continue post-pandemic,” according to Axel Hefer, CEO trivago. “Outside of travel restrictions, regional travel offers more control at an affordable price, while still providing a chance to get away. Because restrictions still vary based on jurisdiction, it makes sense that we see an increase in intra-state travel.”

“Especially in the U.S., it is important to look at individual developments on a state level. The market strongly focuses on domestic travel, and we can see that travel recovery behavior varies by state, especially because demand highly depends on the local epidemiological situation. Understanding daily regional developments is key for industry participants to succeed,” says Nina Wittkamp, Associate Partner and travel expert at McKinsey & Company.

The top five domestic destinations for U.S. travelers has remained largely consistent since the start of the COVID-19 crisis. Florida is the most popular place, followed by California, Texas and Nevada. South Carolina has replaced New York State in the top five. Overall, the significant increase of COVID-19 cases in the past three weeks has reversed the recovery trend in travel searches, especially in the Southern states. When analyzing trends in Arizona, South Carolina, Florida, and Texas, click-out development strongly correlates with COVID-19 outbreaks. After the first wave in March, the number of click-outs started to increase. However, with the significant rise of new cases starting in June, the click-outs fell again in those states, with decreases ranging  from 30% to 53% compared to mid-June.

Proximity equals popularity for international destinations  
Data analysis also found that the popularity of a destination before the pandemic still plays a big role, and Americans are staying true to their traditional international travel destinations of Mexico and Canada. Pre-pandemic search data showed the United Kingdom as the third most popular locale based on searches and click-outs followed by Italy, France, and Spain. However, as lockdown measures were implemented, the Dominican Republic moved up to the replace the UK. In the first week of July the top five international destinations based on click-outs are, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Cuba.