Travelport survey highlights the things people would sacrifice to travel again

Global travel company Travelport has released results from a new survey that highlights society's excitement to travel in 2022. 

In a study commissioned by Travelport and conducted by Toluna Research, thousands of respondents from seven different countries said they’d even be willing to give up some of their favourite things for six months or longer in order to travel.

Of the more than 2,000 participants surveyed: 

• 71% of respondents would forgo concerts
• 64% would stop buying new clothes
• 63% would give up spa treatments
• 60% would skip the cinema
• 53% would give up playing sports
• 36% would stop dining at restaurants

“While the last two+ years have been a significant challenge, the global travel industry recovered more than 50 per cent of its gross activity by the end of 2021,” said Jen Catto, Chief Marketing Officer for Travelport. “Should this trend continue along the same trajectory, it could reach 85 per cent recovery by the end of this year. The pent-up desire to travel is strong. Our latest survey findings clearly demonstrate this, highlighting how many indulgences people are willing to sacrifice in order to travel again.”

Not enthusiastic about everything 

But not every aspect of the travel experience received the same level of enthusiasm. 

A notable experience gap emerged between the high degree of enjoyment respondents get from going on holiday and the frustration they experienced when booking that very same trip.

43 per cent of U.S. respondents, the largest travel region, do not find booking travel enjoyable. But 95 per cent of that same group enjoy the experience of being on holiday. 

Globally, travel was ranked as the number one most enjoyable activity, but when it came to shopping for travel, the industry dropped to the number four spot, trailing the worlds of clothing, restaurants and electronics. 

And this isn’t just a generational issue. A quarter of Gen Z respondents agreed the complexity of searching, comparing and booking travel offers just isn’t fun.

On average, travellers’ visit 38 different websites before booking their trip, TravelPort says. 

Other industries have steamed ahead in terms of simplicity and innovation, evolving with their consumers’ sophisticated expectations, and shifting perceptions over time. 

Study respondents found the travel industry to be an outlier, perceiving it to be even less innovative than the finance industry.

Participants in the study were based in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Hong Kong SAR, India, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates. For more info, visit Travelport.com/Retailing-Report. 

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