KANSAS CITY, Mo. — MMGY Global has launched its Travel Safety Barometer, a sentiment tracking tool created for the travel and tourism industry to monitor American travelers’ perceptions of how safe it is to engage in specific travel behaviors as the country embarks on its reopening and recovery efforts.
Designed by MMGY’s Travel Intelligence research and insights division, the Barometer measures Americans’ perceptions of safety on a scale from zero (extremely unsafe) to 100 (extremely safe). It is based on a nationally representative survey of all active travelers in the country that is conducted monthly using MMGY Global’s proprietary Travel Intentions Pulse database. Barometer metrics are published for both domestic and international travel, as well as category-specific metrics for transportation, lodging, cruising, dining, and entertainment.
“Travelers’ perceptions of safety are shaped by everything from the latest news headlines and personal experiences to social media. The Travel Safety Barometer will highlight how consumer perceptions of safety evolve as states, countries, and travel-related businesses cautiously begin to reopen, allowing the industry to adjust their operational and marketing strategies accordingly to meet consumer needs,” said Chris Davidson, executive vice president of insights and strategy, MMGY Travel Intelligence.
Currently, all data are pointing to domestic leisure travel within the U.S. recovering before business and international travel. The latest wave of Travel Intentions Pulse data (collected May 1-6, 2020) used to create the baseline for the Barometer showed that respondents’ overall perceptions of domestic travel safety are still low on the scale, with international travel scoring even lower: Domestic travel safety scores came in at 34, while international travel earned a score of 22. Driving in a personal vehicle was higher, at 56. Business travel safety and cruise safety barometer scores were below 30, signaling a more challenging recovery for these industry segments. Lodging, dining, and entertainment were similarly tracking with scores in the low to mid 30s.
“There is much work to be done by the industry to put in place measures to protect the public’s health and well-being,” remarked Davidson. “Once this is accomplished, the next challenge becomes how will destinations, hotels, airlines, cruises, and other travel businesses provide peace of mind to travelers who perceive them to be unsafe.”
The Travel Safety Barometer survey is conducted monthly among 1,200 U.S. residents who have taken an overnight trip for either business or leisure in the past 12 months.
