Nearly half of travellers (49%) have already taken an international trip, reflecting an 88% jump in travel abroad since the summer of 2021. Domestically, 85% of respondents have already travelled, signalling an 18% increase since the summer of 2021, according to the Winter 2022 Global Rescue Travel Safety and Sentiment survey of the world’s most experienced travellers.
More people are returning to travel domestically and abroad, according to the survey. Nine out of 10 travellers are “much less or less” concerned about travel since the pandemic, revealing a 22% increase in travel confidence since the summer of 2021.
“All signals are pointing to the beginning of the end of international travel restrictions due to the pandemic. Countries like New Zealand, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and others are opening their borders as severe COVID-19 illnesses and hospitalizations decline, vaccinations increase and testing is more convenient. Domestic travel continues to increase but the big news is that travel abroad is surging,” said Dan Richards, CEO of Global Rescue, the leading provider of medical, security, evacuation and travel risk management services.
Destination preferences continue to lean toward out-of-the-way places in the open air with fewer people. More than three-quarters of respondents (76%) are planning more outdoor, remote travel – a 40% increase compared to traveller responses nearly a year ago. For the first time since the pandemic started, an overwhelming majority of travellers (82%) indicated they are planning more trips lasting five or more days.
“When people feel safe, they travel and we are seeing tremendous, positive change in the traveller confidence about their well-being,” Richards said. According to the survey, nearly half of respondents (47%) confirm they feel safest when vaccinated or recovered from COVID followed by having medical evacuation protection (20%) and visiting uncrowded destinations or outdoor activity (17%.)
Despite the upturn in travel attitudes and behaviour, more than half of travellers (52%) admit that COVID-19 infection, its variants or quarantine is still their number one travel fear, followed by trip cancellation (17%) and having an accident or sustaining an injury (16%).
Those travel concerns are reflected in the ongoing increase in the awareness of, and desire, for medical evacuation services. Sixty-two percent of respondents – a 17% increase compared to the fall of 2021 –identified medical evacuation protection for rescue from point of injury or illness, including COVID-19, as their preferred protection. Cancel For Any Reason trip insurance was the second most important protection (15%) and transport from treating medical facility to home or home hospital of choice (10%) was third most important.
Travellers are divided when it comes to their opinion of how government officials are handling travel choices during the pandemic. More than a third of respondents (38%) believe current COVID-19 restrictions are “impossibly strict” or “unnecessarily strict,” while slightly more (44%) say the restrictions are “just right.” Less than a fifth (17%) say the restrictions are “too lenient.”
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