Are We Facing A Coming Travel Boom — Or A Bust?

After spending almost a year inside their homes, consumers have learned to love a lot of things about their digital lives. According to PYMNTS’ most recent survey, consumers have decidedly shifted to digital — and are quite content to continue doing all sorts of things from the comfort of their own homes.

It seems that for essential tasks — like going to work or buying groceries — the majority of people don’t feel like they showing up physically, even after COVID. Sixty-two percent of consumers who are grocery shopping in stores less often than they did before the pandemic say they won’t go back to pre-pandemic norms. And 79 percent of these remote workers say they do not want to go back to working at their physical workplaces — because, not surprisingly, staying at home in their pajamas with their dog all day beats putting on pants and fighting through the rush-hour commute.

But for all the happy digital shifters out there, people are still beginning to eye their doors and windows, because when it comes to getting back out there to have some fun, there seems to be no digital substitute.

Seeing friends and family, traveling and going to events all topped the list of activities consumers told PYMNTS they were eager to resume once the pandemic period has passed. Sixty-five percent report that the thing they are most looking forward to is seeing their friends and family again, while 60 percent say they want to be able to travel within the U.S. again and 59 percent would like to participate in leisure activities like playing sports, seeing movies and attending concerts and other events.

The pent-up demand is about to be released, as summer vacation season officially starts up in about six weeks — or at least, that is the prediction from Airbnb this week.

“As U.S. citizens look to turn their pent-up travel dreams into reality, combined with President Biden’s plan to get the nation back outside by July 4, guests are increasingly looking for ways to safely reunite and meaningfully connect with loved ones on Airbnb,” the company explained in a blog post. “When it comes to locations, warm-weather locales, small beach towns, and access to state and national parks are fueling spring and summer wanderlust.”

And Airbnb isn’t alone in looking toward a rapid uptick in summer travel — unlike last year, it seems people might be willing to venture a bit further than they can easily drive. United Airlines this week announced it has added 26 new routes ahead of the “summer vacation season,” according to a news release issued on Thursday (March 25). These summer flights will provide nonstop service between two and four times per week, according to United’s current flight schedule. The airline further announced that it will resume service to more than 20 domestic routes that were paused during the pandemic, and plans to “fly more than 100 percent of its pre-pandemic schedule to Latin America” in May, which includes Mexico, Central and South America, and parts of the Caribbean.

Transcontinental flights are also part of the route rebuilding effort: United is aiming to resume service from Chicago to Tokyo and Amsterdam, in addition to New York and New Jersey to Milan and Rome.

“In the past few weeks, we have seen the strongest flight bookings since the start of the pandemic,” said United’s Vice President of Domestic Network Planning and Scheduling Ankit Gupta in a statement. “As we rebuild our schedule to meet that demand, adding in seasonal point-to-point flying is just one of the ways we are finding opportunities to add new and exciting service.”

The anticipation of a summer travel boom comes as the data shows consumers are beginning to hit the road — and the sky — as vaccine rollouts continue. According to TSA data, more than 1.5 million travelers flew last Saturday, a record since the pandemic hit.

The uptick, according to PYMNTS data, is predicated upon vaccines rolling out more widely and caseloads consistently falling nationwide, the two factors that consumers listed as most important to resuming “normal” activity. As new variants of the virus begin to circulate and a race breaks out between the virus and the vaccine, it remains to be seen whether the travel enthusiasm keeps growing into a boom, or if an unexpected setback might precipitate a surprising bust.