Survey Says....it's time to start traveling again. But what are Americans interested in, what are their biggest concerns, and who is ready to start traveling NOW? I've got answers on today's Podcast.
Hi! I'm Mary, The Curious Cowgirl.
I'm a Texas Based Travel Blogger, focused on Empty Nester Travel throughout the United States and Europe.
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Welcome to the curious cowgirl podcast where we are talking about all things travel, and maybe some other stuff that I find interesting. Let's jump into today's episode. Hey, you all welcome to another episode of The Curious cowgirl podcast. I'm so glad y'all are here with me today I have some really interesting information to share with you all. So, very recently, I have been getting a lot of questions, both podcast listeners and blog readers about kind of how am I going to address travel going forward, I will you know, be honest with you all that for the past. You You know, eight or nine weeks 10 weeks, it has been a little bit challenging to continue to bring you all good travel related content. You know, one, I certainly didn't want to come across as tone deaf because nobody's been traveling and we've all had much bigger things to be worrying about for sure. But to, you know, I think, you know, how we travel for the rest of 2020 is going to look really different than it did earlier in this year, certainly in 2019. And I think 2021 is going to look even more different, you know, via certainly everything drivers related has really reshaped the landscape. And so I've been trying to be real, careful and respectful and aware of, you know, kind of what the situation is, but I'm recording this podcast on May the 27th. And most all the states the United States are now open and you know, different varying degrees of open but, you know, hopefully and that will carry tends to go up, as you know, we go into the month of June. And so for sure people are starting to think about travel again. And what does that look like? And how do they do that? And so I've gotten a number of questions from you all kind of like what's going on in the world of travel, can you help kind of illuminate some things for me as I start to think about traveling again. So I was very fortunate today this morning actually to get to participate in a like four hour webinar that was hosted by the travel and adventure show. This is a traveling convention that goes around the country. They bring speakers, lots of different speakers, lots of different breakout sessions. And then they also have, you know, a whole they usually do these events at Convention Center, so they have whole, you know, halls set up with booths representing countries and states, and the destinations and resorts and airlines and all of that. And so they had one scheduled for the month of May, which clearly they can't do in person. So they decided to do it virtually and do a webinar. And it was very interesting. There were four breakout sessions and and I learned a lot but there's some there's some information I want to bring to you all and i and i let me tell you all why I felt like it was important to record this podcast while this information was fresh in my brain and bring it to you. So let me I like to I like analogies a lot. So let me give you all an analogy. And so I live in Dallas and we are kind of at the tail end of Tornado Alley. And in this spring, we typically have a number of you know, severe storms and some of them are torn attic. And so when that happens, you know we all go into one of our safe places in our house closet bathroom, you know, some people will you know, have basements whatever that looks like, and wait out the street. To warm and it's always hard when this is scary situation but to you know you're you're kind of hunkered in place and you don't have access to it, usually your TV has gone out. So all you have is whatever information you can get on an app that you may have installed on your phone or maybe through social media to kind of see what's going on in the neighborhood. And then as soon as the storm passes, you know, the first thing that people do, I think this is real normal and any kind of natural disaster is they get out and go outside and whether they walk around or get in their cars, people want to drive around and see what's going on. And I and I get that so I feel like we're kind of in that same moment. Now. We've all been hunkered down inside our houses, sheltering in place, maintaining social distancing, and now people are timidly kind of stepping out of their houses and they're wanting to know what's going on. What are my neighbors doing? What you know what what are what are the people The next town doing what is happening in my whole state. What about the state's neighboring my state? And I think that's very valid. And as it relates to travel, I've got some interesting information to bring to you all. So all right, so one of the webinars that I attended through the travel and adventure show was hosted by an organization called destination analysis Comm. They're based out of San Francisco and starting at the beginning of March, they identified 1200 people throughout the United States, actually in four very specific regions of the United States, in the south, in the northeast, the Midwest and then the West. And they interviewed this same group of 1200 people every single week for the past 11 weeks, specifically about travel, and all different kinds of questions related to travel so they could kind of travel How they were feeling about travel and how that might change over time as the information we understood about the Coronavirus, changed over time. And so one of the representatives sort of had a very impressive presentation. I'm not going to bore you all with all of it. It was real long, but it was really interesting. But there were some some important takeaways that I want to share with you all, because I think this may really resonate with you all. And I also think that, you know, let me speak for myself, and maybe you're one of these people too, but, you know, I am. I love travel profoundly. I wouldn't be a travel writer if I didn't. And so I am maybe more bold in terms of traveling than the average bear. But yeah, but the average bear likes to travel too, but maybe feeling some feelings are having some concerns or some fears and I think sharing with you all some of the findings of this 11 Study may give your thoughts and feelings some context, which I think you know, I think context is always good. Okay, so the first thing I want to share with you all is the three things that this group of people, these people who were surveyed identified as their top three priorities in terms of travel for, you know, whether it's the rest of this year or even going into 2021 what are the three things that they consider to be the most important So, number one about y'all can predict this is feeling safe. I'm gonna come back and talk about that in a second. The second is, how is travel going to help improve their emotional well being? And three, how is travel going to help them relax? Okay, so I get safety 100% you know, I mean, that is, whether it's going to the grocery store or going to you know, a neighborhood run Trying I think all of us want to feel really comfortable that there is a high level of cleanliness and safety nets and good, consistent protocols going on. And that is absolutely the case as it relates to hotels, you know, Airbnb, airlines, rental cars, going in museums, you know, public transportation, which is not just subways, but like Uber or Lyft, or any of that. feeling safe is really really important to people as they consider traveling. The emotional well being priority was interesting to me and I you know, I'm not a psychologist, right? I just play one on TV, but I I'm not totally surprised by and feeling that your travel decisions are going to support emotional well being well being that doesn't totally surprise me. I mean, I think this has been a very scary time. I think there's a lot of people who still feel very scared and To feel like you're, if you're going to make the decision to travel, that you are that your emotional well being well being is going to be improved by that decision for sure. I can see why that's important. And, and then the relaxation part of part of travel is did surprise me and this is why. And, you know, I think all of us have kind of talked a lot about how, you know, we've been inside and you know, how many more puzzles or how many more Netflix episodes or how many more, you know, clauses, so I have to clean out you know, like that kind of thing. And I would have thought that most people would have said, I am so ready to go out and do stuff, I'm ready to go back and see museums and go to restaurants and you know, do the things like I want to go do that's how I feel for sure. But the these 1200 people who were surveyed for 11 weeks said they want to go someplace where they can relax. And so, you know, maybe that's because of the pressure of being inside our homes. Maybe with our family, maybe There's economic pressures there, but people want to really be able to sit and relax was the third highest priority which I found really fascinating. You may be feeling that same way too. Another interesting finding of this survey was what kinds of places or people most interested in going to and the number one destination was anything that is an outdoor attraction. Again, that probably doesn't surprise anybody. And so state parks and national parks beaches and mountains kind of fell underneath that outdoor attractions category. And I you know, I get that you're in fresh air you there's lots of wide open space to social distance between you know, you and your travel partner or people and the other travel people that are there to you know, you can kind of maintain that safe distance and So outdoor attractions doesn't surprise me. But what is really interesting to me is that in 2019, that was actually the opposite outdoor attractions were among the lowest. And people really wanted to go, you know, go to very urban cities, they wanted to go on cruises, they wanted to go to theme parks, like stuff like that. And now it's totally the opposite. They want to go be outside, go to the mountains, go to the beach, and, you know, whatever. So, if you're feeling that way, you're, you're, you're right on track with this group of people that were being surveyed. So I thought that was I thought that was pretty interesting. Another interesting finding was sort of looking at the demographics of the people that they surveyed and then making some predictions about who's going to be traveling the most, and who's going to be traveling the least. Again, this may not surprise you, but I do I do have some things I want to say about that. So let me share with you all the results and then and then I'll make some comments about it. So the millennials are the group of people that the travel industry feels like are going to be the first travelers and the most aggressive travelers. And that age group has, you know, is least at risk of serious complications from the Coronavirus. And so the people they interviewed that fell into the category being a millennial, they predict that this is going to be a really big group of people traveling. And that, again, that the, these breakout sessions were geared toward the travel industry, but their messaging was kind of to, you know, all of these destinations, you really need to be paying attention to the millennials because they're going to get out there first and start doing stuff. The group that they predict, and I totally get this, it's going to be the least likely to start really aggressively traveling again is the baby boomer generation. totally makes sense. That's the the age group that has moved risk of complications due to the Coronavirus so those two things made sense to me totally. But here's where my comment comes from. I'm part of Generation X I'm 52 years old and I kind of call Generation X also like the empty nester or recent empty nester generation. And and they did not address us at all. So, here's my thoughts about that. And I would love to know if y'all think I'm totally off base or if you're if you're if I'm just like a one woman self survey machine here, but so for everybody who's Generation X or you know, was was a was an empty nester on the verge of being an empty nester, whatever so, like your kids are older in high school or they're in college or maybe they've been out of college or or in their early 20s and they're working now. Okay, so those of y'all who fall into that category, we had all of our kids come home at the beginning of you know, March and look to the sun. The millennials, the younger generation, they already had their kids at home, right? They're, you know, they're they were maybe in elementary school or middle school, but they were already basically home. Baby Boomers obviously have not had anybody living with them for a long time. But the Generation X folks, we had everybody come home, you know, they came home from college. I know lots of people whose kids either weren't their kids were working, and after college, or they went to work out of high school, and they came home, because maybe they were living in a city where they didn't feel totally safe. Or maybe they had what two online work totally and so they could kind of go anywhere and they decided to come home, or maybe they got laid off, you know, kind of first hired first fired situation and so they had to come home because they couldn't afford their apartment or wherever they're living, whatever that look like. So all the genetic Sirs, you know, empty nester folks, we've had our kids home Since the beginning of March, and they're going to be with us through about Labor Day, you know, depending on your situation, but basically that's the case. And I really think that my generation Generation X is going to be very interested in traveling when we get past Labor Day. And I think I think that our generation is, is very smart, is very careful and is very studious. But I don't we are not in the high risk category. And we're not we're not millennials. But I think that the Generation X community or generations, the empty nester community is going to be really ready to travel. Now, it may be that they're only wanting to go to beaches, mountains, state parks, national parks, that kind of thing. I'm not saying that they're going to go back to you know, I don't know New York, or whatever. hard hit areas, but I think that is a group of people that is really going to be ready to travel and and I've certainly certainly put myself in that camp. Glory, for sure. Another, you know, interesting aspect of the findings of this. This organization was related to how people feel about airline travel, which I, again, didn't surprise me, but I'm sharing it with you all, because it may sort of underscore some things you're feeling too. So most of the respondents to the survey said that they are not ready to get on a plane yet, and we're talking about domestic travel, not overseas travel, and in which I would think would even be more so because of the length of traveling, you know, wherever Canada, South America, Europe, Asia, whatever that looks like. People are just not ready to do that. And what's, you know, I know kind of interesting to me about that is the very first presenter in the webinars that I attended. The very first presenter was a guy who works with the American government in helping articulate the importance of the travel industry as it contributes to the American economy. It's a pretty high yield. Don't quote me on this, I believe he said that it's like, like 10 to 15% of the United States economy is tourism and travel related. And so for the airline industry, you know, having people not get back on planes is not only bad for all the people who work for the airline industry, thousands and thousands of people who work for the airlines, but it's also not infusing the tourism industry. And with that much needed capital, which I thought was interesting. And so, you know, if you are feeling that way, you're certainly not alone. And I think that's a that's a huge challenge that the airline industry has in terms of communicating to the public, how they're going to keep us safe when flying, what does that look like? So having said all this kind of brought you all you know, this this interesting information How does that relate to the curious cowgirl and and how I approach travel? So, you know, I've always been very interested in paying attention to trends in terms of travel. But I also and you'll probably know this about me if you read my blog or follow this podcast, I very much have a specific perspective about traveling you all know that I'm very interested in history are antiques, you know, museums and flea markets, and all of that are something that I really enjoy. And that is a lot of the kind of content that I bring to you all, which doesn't have anything to do with travel trends. But I think that travel is really different now. And I think travel is going to look for sure really different for the rest of 2020. I'll be interested to see how 2021 looks, but I just think the travel industry is going to look different for a while. And so, you know, my reason for being a travel writer, a blogger a podcaster is not just to kind of watch poetic about the stuff that I find interesting. But I always want to bring good information to you all I want to have, I want you all to consider me to be a resource and a go to when you're thinking about traveling. So having sat through this, you know, for our webinar today, one of the things that I'm definitely going to be focusing on going forward is identifying travel opportunities that fall into the categories that I mentioned at the beginning. I'm going to be covering a lot more outdoor travel a lot more outdoor destinations, there's going to be some very significant red tripping going on. y'all hear me talk about my husband will a lot and we've already been mapping out some things for later this year. When our kids go back to school, we have the time to really get back after it again, there's gonna be a lot of road tripping, and because I know that's what people are willing to do and interested in hearing about and so on. I guess I'm saying that to you all, because I want you to know that if you match the findings of this company that did this, you know, 11 week survey and a lot of what I've said today resonates with you, I want to let you know that the content that I'm going to be providing to you all, you know, for the rest of the year, is really going to be focused on that is really going to be geared toward how I think most people are willing to travel right now and for the rest of this year. I certainly will keep you all abreast as I hear about opportunities for other kinds of travel. I just think that's going to take some time for that to rebound. And, you know, I'm you know, I'm the gal that was going to Europe twice a year, you know, before this and you know, I really missed that I'm really super anxious for that to come back and it may come back this year, we'll have to wait and see. But I but even if I'm willing to do that, I know a lot of you all may not be so I want to provide information for you all that you can use now that you can use for the rest of 2020 So that's what contents gonna look like for me. But as always, you all I really need your input and your feedback. And I don't want to be operating in a vacuum here. I want to know what y'all are interested in. So, however you are listening to this podcast if you're on my, on my website, the curious cowgirl calm and you're listening to my podcast there, please leave a comment in in this blog post. I would like to know what you what you want to know more about travel that you're interested in? How can I help you feel more safe and secure doing that? If you are listening to this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, then again, I would love a comment from you. I'd love to know your thoughts after listening to this podcast where where could you use a little more information as you begin to think about travel for the rest of 2020 I would love to hear from you all for sure. All right, as always you all I hope you stay safe, I hope your family as well as we begin. We are past Memorial Day and we began the summer months. I hope your family has a really good summer and I will look forward to talking to you all again soon. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai