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VisitBritain

Inbound COVID-19 sentiment tracker

In partnership with London & Partners, VisitScotland and Visit Wales, we commissioned four waves of research to understand international consumer sentiment towards international travel during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Released in:

December 2020

to March 2022

For further information, please contact [email protected].

Report highlights

  • From December 2020 to February 2022, there was an increase of respondents definitely planning a trip abroad in the coming 12 months (39% in December 2020, to 54% in February 2022).
  • Among short-haul markets included in the study, residents of the Irish Republic, France, Germany and Sweden had highest proportions of those who definitely considered an international leisure trip in the next 12 months. Among long-haul markets, Brazil and India had the highest level of ‘definite’ consideration.
  • Cost became a top factor triggering bookings for international travel in the next 12 months with ‘money-back guarantee should I wish to cancel my trip’ still at top place followed by an attractive offer/discount at second. 
  • We saw a shift towards pre-pandemic behaviours with those looking for less crowded places decreasing and fewer booking last minute, as well as comfort with public transport increasing.
  • For destinations within Britain, 57% were interested in England, 36% in Scotland and 18% in Wales (multiple answers allowed). The top city considered in Britain was London, followed by Liverpool, Manchester, Oxford and Cambridge.
  • When looking at the destination types of international leisure trip, sentiment to visit large cities remained the most popular type with 49% mentioned it, while roaming around visiting many types of places was next (41%), followed by coastlines (37%).
  • 68% of Britain intenders were interested in visiting large cities, more than the average for Europe intenders in general (52%), indicating a continued strong desire to experience lively urban environments, with 50% interested in roaming around visiting many types of places too.

View the reports

PDF

International COVID-19 Sentiment Tracker Wave 1 (published January 2021)

Wave 1: 2 to 16 December 2020 in 14 markets.

Download (7.34 MB)
PDF

International COVID-19 Sentiment Tracker Wave 2 (published April 2021)

Wave 2: 24 March to 5 April 2021 in 20 markets. All trended data is calculated using the 14 markets included in wave 1.

Download (11.47 MB)
PDF

International COVID-19 Sentiment Tracker Wave 3 (published September 2021)

Wave 3: 23 August to 6 September 2021 in 13 markets. All trended data is calculated using the 13 markets consistently included in wave 1 and wave 2.

Download (7.63 MB)
PDF

International COVID-19 Sentiment Tracker Wave 4 (published March 2022)

Wave 4: 10 to 23 February 2022 in 20 markets.

Download (6.99 MB)

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