Travel sentiment among travelers is increasing dramatically, as evidenced by the high level of interest in the Online Travel Fair organized last week. The online event attracted thousands of visitors who gained travel inspiration online. Travel to European destinations such as Greece, Croatia and Scandinavia is particularly popular at the moment. On top of that, people mainly want to take active trips. Riksja Travel, initiator of the Online Travel Exchange, sees a 50% growth in travel requests compared to December 2020. Although this is obviously consumer travel, we consider the information valuable for MICE experts.
Not sitting still but traveling
People need active vacations. “Because of all the corona restrictions, people have hung out on the couch at home enough. Time for action, as long as it can be relaxed, healthy and safe. Round trips within Europe are in demand,” said Fenny Koppen CEO of Riksja Travel. Despite the desire for active tours, travelers do indicate that they are looking for peace and quiet and places away from the crowds. This immediately explains the increase in requests on nature trips. Trips where you go to relatively quiet destinations, with lots of nature and sleep in small-scale hotels. ”Corona will be a part of the community for at least this year. People indicate they want to avoid crowded places,” Koppen said.
The Online Travel Fair showed that within Europe, nature destinations are becoming more popular. For example, Iceland, Scandinavia, Croatia and Greece were in high demand. Of the distant destinations, Costa Rica and Namibia stood out in a positive way.
Traveler survey: under what conditions do people want to travel again?
In all likelihood, the negative travel advisory will be extended until mid-April to reopen borders thereafter, but with a five-day quarantine requirement.
The conditions for people to travel again has been queried by Riksja Travel with a large-scale traveler survey in the past week. Thus, it appears that the change in terms of travel advice has a great effect on travel readiness. 44% of travelers just want to travel with limited risks.
Figures show that more than 50% of travelers find post-return quarantine acceptable. Also, flexible travel conditions have become very important to travelers and a factor in whether or not to book a vacation for this summer. Koppen: ”At Riksja we also use flexible conditions, to accommodate travelers. This is important to people, as is the security of booking with a reputable travel company. We are happy to have the prospect of a ‘normal’ summer again after a very difficult year.”
