Fresh Market Research Results Show Where People Plan to Travel in 2022
Turkey, Thailand, Italy and Mexico are among the top destinations for for US, UK, German and French travelers.
2021 is almost over. It is safe to stay that everyone in the hospitality industry is hopeful that 2022 will bring the much-awaited travel rebound. While some destinations had a great 2021 in terms of tourism, arrivals, room nights, and revenue, other countries are still kept hanging on.
Various forecasts and opinions are circulating in travel industry news about what 2022 will look like. Going beyond secondary data, we have decided to do a 2,000 response survey research with Market Sampler, a public survey system that only collects feedback from non-incentivized respondents.
The interactive reporting dashboard with all data and information is available here:
https://marketsampler.com/2022-travel-plans-uk-us-france-germany/.
Brief research overview
Similar to our previous study about the dietary expectations of Millennials, this research was also targeted at people between 26 and 28 years old. A total of 2,000 valid responses were collected.
The survey asked them about their next destination, their planning status, travel purpose, and style. Participants are equally distributed from some of the largest tourism markets:
- United States
- United Kingdom
- Germany
- France
Key insights from the 2022 travel planning research
Among all respondents, the top planned visits are to the following destinations, sorted by most trips planned.
- Turkey
- Thailand
- Italy
- Mexico
- Egypt
- Dubai
- Spain
- Greece
- United States
- Morocco
Travel budgets, destinations, and status of travel planning
Nearly half of self-proclaimed mid-range travelers have booked their next trip already. Most high-end travelers did the same, while the majority of budget travelers did not book anything yet.
- Most high-end travelers have planned and booked trips to Italy, Mexico and Greece.
- European mid-range travelers have plans to visit Dubai, while US mid-range travelers have plans to visit Mexico.
- The majority of budget travelers have plans to visit Thailand, Egypt, Turkey, and Spain, nearly 50% did not make any arrangements yet.
Based on the survey research data, over 40% more high-end and mid-range travelers have made reservations for 2022 over the age of 32 years old. Younger travelers have less specific plans and reported unconfirmed booking status.
Interesting insights related to travel purpose
Filtering response data by travel purpose shows a slightly different picture.
Budget business travelers have plans to visit Egypt, Spain, and Dubai. This matches with the travel preferences of digital nomads or those who arrange long stays in a warm country to live and work there for an extended time.
Most mid-range business travelers plan to visit Dubai. High-end business travelers have the plan to visit the United States, Mexico, and Italy.
How do these research results match with official travel statistics?
Quite well. The public research data shows that Mexico, Italy and the United States, Thailand are among the top destinations for 2022 - among US, UK, French and German travelers.
Turkey has been on a strong tourism uptrend before the pandemic-related travel restrictions took place. The second half of 2021 has been a great rebound for Turkey, signaling strong, continued demand for the destination.
Mexico is on a strong rebound trend. During the January – August 2021 period, 35 million international visitors arrived in Mexico, a 1.3% decrease compared to the same period in 2020. During the January – August 2021 period, 20.1 million international tourists arrived in Mexico, a 27.7% increase compared to the same period in 2020. During the same period of 2019, just before the pandemic, the country welcomed 29 million tourists.
The survey data looks very similar to the official Dubai arrival statistics too, especially in terms of Western-European travelers which make 18% of total arrivals.
The survey results correlate very well with the travel trends of past years.
Would you like to do similar research for your destination?
Market Sampler enables anyone to start an online survey research from $50, targeting non-incentivized respondents worldwide, in any language, for any purpose. With free-form survey creation and detailed targeting options, it is very straightforward to start researching.
To access more targeting options, research status tracking, and priority support tools, we recommend opening a Partner Area account.
Once again, the survey results are linked below, and free to use for anyone.
