An overwhelming majority of people have been travelling while knowing they have COVID-19, according to research released at the recent World Travel Market in London.

A survey of 2,000 people found that almost half (46.4%) of respondents (in Britain) said “Yes, definitely,” when asked: “Do you think people travel while knowing they have COVID?”

A further 41% replied “Yes, maybe.” Just 6.3% said “No, not at all,” and another 6.3% said they didn’t know.

It means almost nine in 10 (87.4%) replied yes when asked the question by pollsters.

The survey was conducted during the first restriction-free summer season since 2019, with travellers able to enter and leave the UK without worrying about COVID rules – unless they were visiting a destination which still had curbs in place.

Pent-up demand meant thousands of people travelled overseas for the first time since the start of the pandemic – and the survey responses suggest most respondents many would have been reluctant to sacrifice their holiday even if they had symptoms of COVID.

A similar survey for WTM London last year showed that travel restrictions had put two-thirds of consumers off travelling overseas.

This year, summer hotspots such as Greece and Turkey saw visitor numbers rebound quickly, thanks in part to relaxing restrictions earlier than other Mediterranean countries.

There were some media reports and anecdotal evidence of COVID spreading among travellers during summer 2022 – perhaps thanks to mixing at airports or in resorts – but it would appear that widespread vaccine boosters and immunity from past bouts of coronavirus meant most cases were mild and numbers have not soared.

Even US first lady Jill Biden tested positive for COVID while on holiday in South Carolina in August.

“The end of Covid restrictions and free tests… undoubtedly meant that people who had the infection were mixing with the wider community – whether domestically or overseas,” World Travel Market exhibition director Juliette Losardo. “It’s impossible to know how many of them would have set off on their travels knowing they had COVID but the results of our survey suggest most of us (87%) think that would probably have been the case.

“However, thanks to the vaccination campaigns here and abroad, a large proportion are protected from the worst effects of the virus, and we seem to have struck a balance between keeping people safe and allowing life to resume, and in turn enable the travel community to soar back to pre-pandemic levels.”