Coronavirus travel impacts: Half of Americans won’t fly, less would take cruise, poll says
A new USA TODAY/Ipsos poll shows significant challenges emerging for multiple travel industries as the coronavirus pandemic increasingly affects travelers’ lives.
Half of those surveyed said they would not currently travel on a plane. Even fewer said they would be willing to go on a cruise: Only one in five said they would.
One in 10 respondents said they have already canceled a personal trip. And opinion of public transit was nearly evenly split, with 45% saying they would use public transit and 47% saying they would not.
The poll was conducted between March 10 and 11 and included a sample of 1,005 U.S. adults.
The travel and tourism industry has taken hit after hit since the coronavirus outbreak began in January. It’s still early for concrete data, but economists and industry executives fear 9/11- or recession-like repercussions. Travel demand plummeted then and was slow to recover.
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The poll found older people are even more reluctant the fly than younger ones, with 58% of those surveyed over the age of 55 saying they would not travel by plane.
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Some surveyed support grounding flights, with 22% of respondents saying domestic flights should be grounded and 39% supporting the grounding of international flights.
But the poll also found that some Americans aren’t letting the virus affect their plans or alter their daily lives. Three in ten said they have no plans to take preventative measures against the outbreak and most said they do not plan on canceling a personal trip.
Chris Zeiders — 46, of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania — is among those not worried for health reasons, although he believes it may have impact the economy.
“I really haven’t changed anything on how I go about my day. If anything, instead of doing handshakes, I know people are doing elbow bumps … we’re probably doing a little more of that than we used to.”
The new poll found support, but not enthusiasm, for providing temporary financial help for airlines and other affected industries, with 42% supporting. Republicans were less likely to support it.
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“Global travel is effectively shutting down,” Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics said. “It’s going to take a while to get it back up and running again. This is going to be a very tough year for the travel and tourism industry.”
He said the travel and tourism impact from coronavirus could be greater than the fallout from 9/11, or the 2003 SARS outbreak, because of the global nature of the crisis.
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Cruise industry trade group Cruise Lines International Association said in a tweeted statement that extreme safety concerns are not warranted: “The cruise industry is one of the most well-equipped and experienced when it comes to managing and monitoring health conditions of those onboard, with outbreak prevention and response measures in place year-round.”
The tweeted statement came a day after the association submitted a plan to the White House that would deny cruise boarding to any person over 70 unless they present a doctor’s note verifying their fitness for travel.
Contributing: Curtis Tate, Dawn Gilbertson and Morgan Hines
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