As vaccination rates continue to go up and travel restrictions are lifted across the country and globe, many Americans are eager to resume traveling this summer. After conducting a survey on travel sentiment in January of this year, IPX 1031 recently surveyed 1,500 Americans to re-visit the topic six months later to see how feelings towards travel have changed.

Almost 85% of respondents are optimistic about traveling in 2021— up from 48% in January. 9% are somewhat optimistic and only 6% are not. Further, an even three-quarters specifically plan to travel this year. 16% are unsure, and 9% have no plans to travel in 2021. More than half (55%) have already booked their trip. For reference, in January, only 58% of Americans planned to travel this year.

The top reasons for not traveling include not feeling safe due to the pandemic (64%), not having the budget (46%), travel/flying restrictions (27%), dining and entertainment restrictions (21%) and inability to take time off from work (13%).

Americans have an average of 2.5 trips planned for 2021 with an average length of trip being four days. Among the 75% who plan to vacation within the US, 36% are planning to travel this summer; another 23% plan to travel in the fall, with 16% planning for winter.

The most common response in regard to consumer spend was USD 1,000 to USD 1,999 (22%). Nearly the same number (20%) said they would spend USD 2,000 to USD 2,999. Among those who plan to vacation this year, 44% say they expect to spend more money on their trip than they normally would spend.

Hotels are the most preferred accommodation (38%), with short-term rentals (like Airbnb or VRBO) following at 16%. Vacation home/timeshare was third at 14% and “with family” was fourth at 13%.