Generali predicts the rebirth of the US road trip
A new paper suggests that the pandemic is creating a revival that may bring road trips back to the level of popularity they experienced between the 1930s and 1980s
Generali Global Assistance’s latest Future of Travel survey combined with its whitepaper, Revival of the Great American Road Trip, highlights how road travel is experiencing a sudden surge in popularity in the US, driven by air travel concerns and the potential resurgence of Covid-19 in different destinations.
“Travellers are taking to the road this summer in order to remain socially distanced as they travel to their summer getaway,” said Chris Carnicelli, CEO of Generali Global Assistance. “While 44 per cent of respondents from the 11 countries included in our Future of Travel survey said they would fly on a plane in 2021, 51 per cent still indicated that the car would be their main mode of transport. Meaning travellers may be more likely to dust off their Michelin guide and begin looking at what sites they can drive to in 2021, versus faraway exotic destinations they favoured prior to the pandemic.”
The company’s whitepaper assesses the historical context that led to the rise and eventual fall of the road trip after the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 revolutionised the airline industry and made travel by air more accessible, causing a shift towards a preference to air travel over road trips.
“By now, we all know the world of 2020 looks unexplainably different than any of us could have foreseen in 2018,” the whitepaper reads. “At the beginning of this year, as Covid-19 flew, drove, and sailed around the world moving from human to human regardless of demographic or sociographic barriers, the world came to a near standstill.” And the paper notes that travel bans and border closures enacted around the world were the likes of those not seen since WW2. As restrictions lift, Generali notes that Americans, though keen to travel, are still left feeling unsafe about air travel, and unwilling to risk their health or that of their families.
Seventy-two per cent of summer travellers are planning to travel by car to their summer getaway according to the Future of Travel survey, with Outdoorsy’s CEO Jeff Cavins – who provided insight for the whitepaper – reasoning that for those hit financially by Covid-19 (which must be a vast majority of people), the road trip presents the affordable holiday alternative.
“As people search for quick getaways and safe travel options outside of air and hotels, we've seen a renaissance in road travel,” Cavins said. As the paper proclaims: “It seems the great American road trip is positioned to make a ‘Roaring 20s’ comeback.”