New research from Expedia Group release yesterday reveals shifting views on travel, including positive sentiment on vaccine passports, increased budgets, and an enduring demand for safety and financial security. Moreover, the research – based on a survey of 8,000 people, including Canada, and detailed in the Traveler Value Index – suggests that price is no longer primary driver of travel decisions.

“As vaccination rates rise and borders open across the globe, people are ready and eager to travel. However, the months of uncertainty are weighing on their travel decisions and shifting the conventional belief that price is the top driver of bookings,” said Ariane Gorin, president, Expedia for Business, Expedia Group. “These insights show people want to book with trusted travel providers that will deliver on their experiences, keep them safe, and protect their financial investments.”

Canadians, for the most part, tend to closely match most of global opinion trends expressed in the survey, according to Paul Bragan, Sr. Partner of Wakefield Research, which conducted the study.

And that includes that nearly one-fifth of respondents said travel ranked as their most likely activity to spend money on coming out of the pandemic.

“That’s the (stat) that makes me jump up and down with joy,” Expedia Group SVP & GM Hari Nair says, adding, “It’s great to see that travel is getting the lion’s share of people’s wallets.”

Indeed, the Traveler Value Index – commissioned to help understand the values and expectations of travellers as the pandemic becomes more controlled in many parts of the world – shows that people are making travel a financial priority:

• More than a third (34%) of travellers have larger travel budgets now compared to 2020.

• 18% expect travel to be the activity they spend most on in 2021, on par with major spending items such as home renovation (18%) and ahead of entertainment (12%), buying or taking care of a car (11%), or healthcare (11%).

• And 36% say they would trade a pay raise for more vacation days.

Travellers are thinking differently about the frequency and length of travel, according to the Index:

• Many (60%) are opting for domestic travel in the short-term, however they are planning to get away more often, with nearly half (41%) wanting more frequent, shorter, trips.

• The outlook for international travel is also improving, with more than a quarter (27%) of travellers considering a trip to another country in the next year.

• Nearly three-quarters (71%) of travellers are comfortable showing a vaccine passport to travel internationally.

The research also shows an increased desire for new and different experiences over nostalgic destinations:

• 75% of travellers are likely to select a travel destination they’ve never been to before.

• 52% are likely to use a new mode of transportation.

• 22% are looking for a once-in-a-lifetime experience on their next trip.

Personal values

The Traveler Value Index reveals that travellers continue to make value-based decisions that reflect their own personal views when booking travel. Travellers want to support sustainable practices, with nearly three in five (59%) willing to pay higher fees to make their trip more sustainable.

Additionally, a majority of Canadians (64%) are more likely to book with travel providers that have inclusive policies. This includes properties that are owned by women and/or people of colour, are welcoming to the LGBTQIA+ community, and those that are supportive of people with disabilities.

Top priorities

Financial security and safety rank as the highest priorities for travellers across all experiences, a shift from the conventional wisdom that price (which dropped to No. 3) drives consumer behaviour. More specifically, more than one in four travellers most value the ability to get a refund, particularly for airline (26%) and vacation rental (26%) experiences, followed by enhanced cleaning and disinfection.

The takeaway, Bragan says, is that “discounting travel is not going to be enough in the post-pandemic world” and that travel providers need to clearly communicate cancellation policies and cleanliness measures to help ease any client anxieties and build confidence.

Age

However, the Traveler Value Index also shows differences in values by age group, indicating that younger groups are less focused on price and refunds. These include:

• For hotels and vacation rentals, the ability to get a full refund increases in value with age. However, travellers under the age of 40 in the US and Japan rank enhanced cleaning the most important factor in hotel bookings, while also seeing more value in contactless experiences and premium benefits.

• Airline travel decisions are also shaped by financial security, where 26% most value the ability to get a full refund. However, millennial and Gen Z travellers, or travellers under the age of 40, see more value in contactless experiences, first-class benefits, and environmentally friendly policies compared to older generations.

• North American millennials (born between 1981 and 1996), value flexibility in car rental decisions, ranking the ability to make changes second. The trend of North American millennials valuing flexibility is also evident in air travel, showing how the ability to change plans without penalty is worth just as much as lower pricing.

• Cruise passengers are the only respondents from numerous countries who rank low pricing as the top value. However, North American Gen Z travellers, or those born in 1997 onwards, rank environmentally friendly policies second in the list of values, showing that younger age groups weigh the environmental impact of their travel decisions in addition to price.

Overall, Bragan notes that travellers in 2021 are looking for new destinations, new ways of travelling and supporting social sensibilities while doing so. And compared to last year’s “nostalgia” theme, he says, “Travellers are looking forward, they don’t want to go back.”

Expedia’s Nair points out that 33% of survey respondents said they believe that travel makes them more rounded people.

“We know,” he concludes “that travel is a force for good.”

Travel Value Index research was conducted between April 16 and May 7, 2021, amongst adults ages 18-plus from eight countries: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, the UK and the US.