KANSAS CITY, MO - MMGY Global has announced the latest findings from MMGY Travel Intelligence's Travel Intentions Pulse Survey Wave VIII (TIPS) and MMGY Global's Travel Safety Barometer, which are designed to track how COVID-19 is impacting travelers' attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors. As we near the end of a summer where domestic road trips were the preferred way to vacation, despite COVID hot spots also continuing to pop up around the country, perceptions of safety for domestic travel, transportation, lodging and even business travel are at their highest since the start of the pandemic.

"We're seeing this momentum from the summer spurred on by people venturing away from home for the first time in months," said Chris Davidson, Executive Vice President of Insights and Strategy. "Americans are figuring out what they feel comfortable with and are starting to feel safer traveling domestically, though international travel is still perceived by most to be unsafe."

The Domestic Travel Safety Barometer, which measures traveler sentiment on a scale of 0 (extremely unsafe) to 100 (extremely safe), experienced a 4-point jump with confidence in the safety of domestic travel increasing from a score of 45 to 49 from July to August. At the same time, the Lodging Safety Barometer reached an all-time high score of 50 as confidence in staying at hotels and resorts rose. These positive feelings are also reflected in the latest TIPS report, which found the likelihood of taking a domestic leisure trip during the next six months has increased from 38% in July to 42% in August. Furthermore, 75% of travelers said they are likely to travel by personal car during the next six months - the highest level reported since the survey began in March.

— Source: MMGY Global— Source: MMGY Global
— Source: MMGY Global

After months of stagnation, the Business Travel Safety Barometer score showed a modest increase to 38, up from 35 points in July. Similarly, the most recent TIPS survey found the likelihood of taking a domestic business trip during the next six months increased from 31% in July to 35% in August. Importantly, it also seems more people who thought business travel was going to be totally out of the picture this year now see it as a possibility. The percentage of business travelers who said they were not at all likely to take a business trip during the next six months declined significantly from 35% to just 25%.

— Source: MMGY Global— Source: MMGY Global
— Source: MMGY Global

MMGY Travel Intelligence's Travel Intentions Pulse Survey is conducted monthly among 1,200 U.S. residents who have taken an overnight trip for either business or leisure in the past 12 months. Wave VII of the survey was conducted on July 27-31, 2020, and Wave VIII was conducted August 21-31, 2020. The full report is available here on www.mmgyintel.com.

MMGY Global's Travel Safety Barometer is culled monthly from the Travel Intentions Pulse Survey, providing a comprehensive picture about how safe Americans think it is to travel. The full report is available here on www.mmgyintel.com. For additional COVID-19 related research and insights, visit MMGY Global's COVID-19 resource page:www.mmgyglobal.com/covid-19/.

About MMGY Travel Intelligence

MMGY Travel Intelligence is MMGY Global's industry research and insights brand, offering proprietary data and research including DK Shifflet, the Portrait of American Travelers® and travelhorizonsTM designed to power travel industry decision-makers through consumer insights, travel performance data, and audience modeling and segmentation. To learn more about the extensive collection of research, analytics and strategy services, visit mmgyintel.com or email us at [email protected].

About MMGY Global

MMGY Global is the world's leading integrated marketing firm specializing in the travel, hospitality and lifestyle industries. With operating brands across the world, the award-winning organization maintains a global communications practice in all marketing channels, serving many of the world's premier travel and tourism brands. As a company dedicated to the travel industry, MMGY Global strives to create a connected, inclusive and peaceful world by promoting travel as a cultural bridge of understanding. For more information, visit mmgyglobal.com.

Andrea Holden
MMGY Global
MMGY Global