A new year brings the reality of a COVID-19 vaccine closer and those dreaming of travel may soon be able to take the trips they plan for in 2021. Given the disruption to the travel industry brought on by the pandemic – leading to reductions in the amount of traveling done last year – what has happened to travel interest among Brits and Americans during that time?
Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and stay up to date
Throughout the course of 2020, despite restrictions and lockdowns, more than two in five Brits said they were still interested in travel (43%). This topic ranks third only slightly behind animals and nature, and food and beverage as the most popular interest among Britons.
While travel remained the third most popular interest in the UK, there were fewer Brits interested in 2020 than there were in 2019 prior to the pandemic (43% vs. 46%). A closer look by age groups reveals that the largest declines in travel interest occurs among those aged 55 and over (49% in 2019 vs. 44% in 2020).
It appears that during the pandemic, the UK nation have shifted their focus away from politics, the topic suffered a five-point decrease in interest between 2020 and 2019 as did interest in national news (a four-point decline). With most cultural venues shut for a significant proportion of the year, we see a three-point decrease in music and local events.
