Survey findings reveal what new and returning travel trends are in store for the season ahead

This season, guidance from the Center for Disease Control makes holiday travel (with the proper safety precautions) possible, allowing family and friends to reunite for the most wonderful time of the year. So, will Americans spruce up their 2021 travel plans after being asked to deck the halls at home last year?

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This season, hometown travel is the priority, but vacations to warmer-weather and mountain-snow destinations are close behind. (Photo: Business Wire)

Today, Vacasa released its 2021 Holiday Forecast and Winter Travel Trends report, analyzing survey results* to determine what consumer travel trends will carry over from 2020 and what new—or returning from pre-pandemic—travel traditions will be unwrapped.

While there is some remaining uncertainty around holiday travel, with nearly half of Americans planning to make a trip and 20% still unsure, those who do plan to travel aren’t done after one getaway. In fact, 82% of holiday travelers say they’re planning to travel again before spring arrives. Understandably, hometown travel is the priority for the winter season as a whole, but people are also ready to go dashing through the snow, or sand, on a vacation.

Here are just a few of the trends expected to stay evergreen this year, along with some that will arrive anew:

• Next-gen travel continues to trend: Gen Zers and Millennials are the most likely to travel for the holiday season (66% and 61%, respectively).
• And, not surprisingly, family travel keeps trending, too: roughly 65% of parents with children under age 5 plan to travel, compared to 42% of non-parents.
• Americans seem more determined to travel this year: 49% say they would change travel plans if there was a COVID-19 spike where they are traveling to, which is down from nearly three-quarters of people who said they would change plans in 2020.
• Another perhaps positive shift from 2020? Last year, almost 40% of U.S. consumers reported having to adjust their holiday traditions due to COVID-19, compared to 19% this year.
• Holiday travelers are planning to stick to the road (again): 72% say they’ll be road tripping, down just slightly from the more than three-quarters who were going by car last holiday season.
• The rationale? 40% say it’s simply because they’re traveling to a place close by, whereas 38% cite COVID-19 safety concerns.
• Furthermore, the holidays will be no exception when it comes to remote and hybrid work models changing how people travel: a quarter of those traveling for the holidays say they plan to work remotely during their trips (24%).
• For the winter season as a whole, hometown travel is the priority (37%), but vacations to warmer-weather and mountain-snow destinations are close behind (33% and 23%, respectively).

To view the full 2021 Holiday Forecast and Winter Travel Trends report, or to find a (vacation) home for the holidays this season, visit www.vacasa.com.

*Methodology: Allison+Partners Research + Insights surveyed 1,000 US consumers age 18 or older. The survey was fielded using the Qualtrics Insight Platform, and the panel was sourced from Lucid. Fielding was executed in October 2021.

About Vacasa

Vacasa is the leading vacation rental management platform in North America, transforming the vacation rental experience by integrating purpose-built technology with expert local and national teams. Homeowners enjoy earning significant incremental income on one of their most valuable assets, delivered by the company’s unmatched technology that adjusts rates in real time to maximize revenue. Guests can relax comfortably in Vacasa’s 30,000+ homes across more than 400 destinations in North America, Belize and Costa Rica, knowing that 24/7 support is just a phone call away. In addition to enabling guests to search, discover and book its properties on Vacasa.com and the Vacasa guest app, Vacasa provides valuable, professionally managed inventory to top channel partners, including Airbnb, Booking.com and Vrbo. In Summer 2021, Vacasa entered into an agreement to become a publicly traded company through a business combination with TPG Pace Solutions (NYSE: TPGS; “TPGS”), a special purpose acquisition company (“SPAC”). Interested parties should refer to the registration statement on Form S-4 filed by Vacasa, Inc. with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for important information regarding TPG Pace Solutions, Vacasa and the proposed business combination.

For more information, visit https://www.vacasa.com/press.

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