Majority of Americans still hesitant to book a vacation: poll

Only 16 percent of Americans say they have a future vacation on the books as people are still hesitant to travel during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a Harris Poll survey released on Wednesday.

Of the 16 percent who have booked trips, more than a quarter of those are people aged 18 to 24. Twenty-one percent of those respondents are millennials, and only 10 percent are 41 to 56.

Nineteen percent of those planning a trip said they have already been vaccinated, and 21 percent said they plan to get vaccinated “whenever I get around to it.”

Thirty-five percent of all respondents said they are starting to plan their next vacation, and 49 percent said they have not started thinking about their next vacation. 

Almost a year into the pandemic, nearly half of Americans said they are waiting until this summer to take a vacation. Forty-seven percent said they are looking to plan their next trip this summer when more people will have a chance to get the vaccine, while 23 percent said they are planning their next trip for this spring.

With an eye toward the end of the pandemic, respondents were asked about what their first major purchase will be. Fifty-three percent said traveling, while 34 percent said buying new clothes and 25 percent said buying a car. 

The Harris Poll survey of 2,043 U.S. adults was conducted from Feb. 5 to 7. The survey is an online sample drawn from the Harris Panel and weighted to reflect known demographics. As a representative online sample, it does not report a probability confidence interval.