USA/UK. A new report – The Evolution of Travel: CarTrawler’s Consumer Trends for 2022 – has highlighted how the continuing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the growing impact of climate change have shaped the behaviour of travellers in recent times.
The research involved 2,000 adult travellers across the US and UK, who were questioned by CarTrawler – the B2B technology provider of car rental and mobility solutions to the global travel industry – to help understand how travel has transformed over the past year.
The survey found that 77% of people still have positive emotions around travel. More than half of those surveyed (51%) expect to do more domestic leisure travel over the next year, while 43% expect to travel internationally.
However, it emerged from the research that respondents have mixed feelings about health regulations with regards to travel. Some 53% think travel providers are sharing enough — and being more than transparent — about their COVID-19 policies and more than a third (37%) would like more clarity around policies.
New rules and regulations, such as those relating to cleaning, have instilled more confidence in flying among 34% of travellers, and 41% say that it feels safer and cleaner to fly now than before.
Of the travellers who were surveyed whose last trip was greater than a year ago, 60% say they are concerned about their health and physical safety if they were to travel now or in the near future. Encouragingly, only 36% of travellers who’ve taken trips in the last year have the same sentiment.
CarTrawler’s report notes that during the course of the pandemic, especially with the transition to remote and hybrid work, people have become more accustomed to using cloud services and applications. It believes that the travel industry should accommodate this shift by offering travellers more options for convenience and flexibility.
This call is backed up by several findings from the survey. These include that 61% of travellers want an easier booking process and more than half (51%) wish there was a single mobile app they could manage all parts of their trip from.
Further, nearly half (49%) of travellers say they would purchase a single travel app if it contained all of the essential elements for travel, including tickets, itineraries, passports and vaccine passports; and more than half of travellers (55%) say they would like to book flights and rental cars at the same time.
The CarTrawler report observed that travellers “are more environmentally-conscious than ever”. A notable example from the survey is that 73% of millennial age category travellers are willing to pay more for an eco-friendly car. On average, US travellers said they would be willing to spend US$22 and UK travellers £14 more per day on top of the standard price to rent such a vehicle.
CarTrawler CEO Cormac Barry said: “The last two years have forced the travel industry and travellers themselves to adapt and evolve. Beyond the pandemic, the industry must recognise and adjust to the behaviours of today’s travellers. People are more tech- and environmentally-savvy and expect the brands they engage with to be the same.”
