At the end of 2020, hope returned to world as countries approved COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna, and Oxford-AstraZeneca. This hope spurred optimism for many industries and when it came to travel and tourism, signaled an imminent return to flying, cruising, and globetrotting again. However, with vaccines still being prioritized for health workers, the elderly, and high-risk individuals, this leaves large-scale distribution still months away for the general public.
In order to measure perceptions around COVID-19 vaccines and travel intent, YouGov asked 2,000 British adults to reflect on their holiday plans once travel restrictions were lifted. The data suggests that receiving the vaccine will be key to travel confidence , especially with roughly two-fifths of Britons saying they won’t go on a holiday anywhere until they are inoculated (39%).
This view is held by a plurality of British adults, with older Britons (48%) being especially wary of traveling before having received a coronavirus vaccine. For others, getting vaccinated will still only assuage their travel concerns enough to take a domestic holiday in the UK for the foreseeable future (27%).
It is hard to predict whether Brits will be required to get the coronavirus vaccine before traveling to or from the UK but 14% of GB adults say they would holiday in both the UK and abroad even if they have not had the vaccine. This attitude is held by roughly a fifth of all age groups except those aged 55 and over (only 7% of this age group take this stance) Those with higher incomes are marginally more likely to say they would holiday unvaccinated (16% of ABC1s vs. 12% of C2DEs).
Sizable shares of younger generations will not link the timing of their travel to when they receive a vaccination. Britons aged 25-34 (22%) and 35-44 (20%) stand out for their eagerness to travel without being inoculated and this data suggests not only pent-up demand, but that younger people may be the first ones to book as soon as information around possible travel destinations and dates becomes available.
