This summer as Americans try to get away yet stay close to home and keep safe, they’re turning more to their cars. In fact, you could say the great American road trip is back.
We have all been adapting to the measures put in place over the last few months, and as well as domestic air travel taking center stage, many are looking to escape by car. The great American road trip has been made famous by some of our favorite books and movies, but what are people looking for in 2020? Skyscanner polled American travellers on skyscanner.com to find out.
The findings from the survey are below:
- Many in the US are using a road trip as their break from everyday life, with most participants saying they would use the trip to escape to the mountains (35%) and just 12% stating they wanted to visit the city
- Getting far away from their home base was also a key part of why they were looking to take a trip, with most participants (32%) stating they would go more than 1000 miles on their trip
- The need for human connection that has been underlined by the coronavirus pandemic was evident in the findings too, with ”good company” being most commonly named as the reason for a trip
- Reasonableness is the order of the day, with 50% of respondents stating they wanted a medium, practical car for their road trip, and 35% choosing safety and convenience as the motivation behind their mode of transport
- Good scenery (25%) was the second most important thing on people’s minds for their road trips, and 22% of participants named Instagram and social media as the inspiration for their trip
Here are the top 10 cities:
- New York
- Denver
- Las Vegas
- Los Angeles
- Orlando
- Washington
- Chicago
- Newark
- Atlanta
- San Francisco
40% of 1000+ participants who took part in a Skyscanner and OnePoll US survey in May said that they were “very likely” to travel by car once they were able to take their first trip.
Paul Cumins, Car Rental Expert at Skyscanner explained, “American travelers are seeking adventure and escape in a time when they would normally be using their vacation to discover the rest of the world. What we are seeing is pent-up wanderlust creating interest around domestic road trips, with people looking a little bit closer to home for a 2020 break. We also see interest in foreign travel returning for later in the year and into next year on our flight and hotel sites, so it seems that US travelers are happy to use summer 2020 as an excuse to explore their own backyard before venturing further in Fall, Winter and 2021.”
