There’s been a lot of discussion of how people will travel during the ongoing pandemic, if they travel at all. Some have speculated that national parks could see an upswing in popularity in the short term. Others have argued that road trips might get a boost in the coming months. But what are the domestic destinations where American travelers might venture once the pandemic has subsided?
A new study from RENTCafé offers an insightful look at what the popular travel destinations of the near-future might be. After polling 15,000 users and discovering that 42% still expressed an interest in travel, RENTCafé used Google data to see what locations still piqued people’s interests.
Travel-related searches for over 200 popular U.S. vacation spots dropped by 64% in March and April combined, compared to the same period last year. Declines in interest ranged from 25% for the shores of Outer Banks, NC, to 78% for Brooklyn, NY.
The Outer Banks was, in fact, the destination deemed “most resilient” — which is to say that it experienced the smallest decline in interest. In the second and third spots were Yellowstone National Park and Fairbanks, Alaska.
From the initial list, the RENTCafé study breaks the list of destinations down into more granular groups. Beaches, national parks and small towns are all examined in greater detail. Unsurprisingly, Hawaii and Alaska are both well-represented on these lists. Several New England spots also make an appearance — specifically, Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard and Bar Harbor.
Isolation, whether in terms of remote locations or island placement, seems to have played a significant part in many of these searches. Will the study’s predictions be borne out when travel returns to (relative) normalcy? It’ll be an interesting subject to track in the coming months.
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