Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company reveals US travel plans

Half (50%) of US consumers are planning to travel internationally in 2024, according to a survey commissioned by Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company.

In addition, the Ohio-based insurer found that 91% of consumers surveyed – from a nationally representative pool of 1,000 US adults – were planning to travel domestically this year.

The survey, conducted on behalf of Nationwide by Edelman Data and Intelligence, also reported that four in 10 respondents were planning to travel more this year than they did in 2023.

Driving and flying are the most popular travel methods

Driving was the most popular method of travel for respondents, with 30% saying they have plans to do this, and a further 60% saying they are likely to drive somewhere.

Meanwhile, nearly a quarter (22%) of respondents said that they planned to travel by air, while a further 46% said that they were “likely to fly” but had not crystallised their plans.

Additionally, while only 6% said that they had already planned a cruise this year, almost a third (29%) said that they were likely to take one.

Top concerns about travel disruption

The survey also found that consumers were most worried about the potential effect of weather-related delays or cancellations (54%), followed closely by concerns about a resurgence of Covid-19 (51%).

Beyond this, technology issues (38%), unruly fellow passengers (37%), and employee strikes (25%) were other leading concerns.

Misconceptions about travel insurance abound

Despite this, nearly two thirds (64%) of respondents said that they “rarely or never” purchase travel insurance – with the biggest reason stated simply being that they “do not believe it is needed” (47%).

This belief appears to be driven by a number of misconceptions about the purpose and effectiveness of travel insurance.

Half of consumers surveyed said that they “believed their health insurance provider would cover any healthcare needs that arise while travelling internationally”. This is despite most domestic health insurance policies not covering international travel.

Additionally, many thought that travel insurance wouldn’t cover their top travel concerns – such as injury or sickness (51%) and trip interruption (40%). In actuality, these are some of the main reasons to get travel protection.

Meanwhile almost a third (30%) overestimated the price of coverage – believing that insurance would cost approximately 15% of the total cost of the trip. Travel insurance on average usually costs more in the range of 5–6% of the total trip cost.

Two fifths (41%) mistakenly thought that their travel credit card offered the same amount of protection as travel insurance, which is not always the case.

Globetrender revealed its own list of 2024 trends in business travel earlier this year.