After months of restrictions, Germans are hoping for a more “normal” daily life. And this applies to both everyday activities and leisure.
In the summer, many finally go on vacation again. But how exactly has traveler behavior changed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic? The German travel platform Urlaubspiraten surveyed over 1,000 users if and how their views on holidays have changed over the past few months.
Changes in behavior while traveling
Safety and flexibility were the most important aspects. Moreover, 37% of those surveyed decided to explore new home travel destinations in Germany during the period of restrictions.
A quarter decided to take home leave simply because of an uncertain situation. A full 79% said the pandemic made them understand and appreciate how much they enjoy traveling to other countries.
Sustainable travel
With restrictions further eased, half of the respondents now hope to be able to travel “as before” soon.
Many vacationers thought about their behavior during the forced break of travel: a quarter of the respondents decided that in the future they want to travel more responsibly and rationally. 16% said they paid attention to sustainable travel before the pandemic.
This confirms the global trend noted by Booking com. According to the company’s Sustainable Travel Report for this year, 46% of respondents want to travel more sustainable and sustainable in the future.
Moreover, in just five years, the number of people wanting to stay in greener living spaces has increased to 81% (62% in 2016).
Job: a new trend for (almost) everyone
Workation is the idea of combining work with private travel so that, for example, you can stay at a vacation spot for much longer.
A few years ago, there were only a few so-called digital nomads who could work completely freely from anywhere in the world. But today things are very different: 76% of survey participants who go to work are employees, and only 5% are freelancers or self-employed.
A whopping 40% believe work is the perfect way to extend their vacation and really get to know a new place. 37% quite imagine how they constantly move to another country thanks to remote work.
However, half of the respondents are skeptical about this trend and would prefer to separate work and vacation so as not to worry about working on a well-deserved weekend.
Business travel is becoming less relevant
Finally, travel behavior has also changed in the context of business travel. 41% believe that some topics can only be clarified in personal meetings.
Almost a fifth of them are confident that business tourism will remain relevant in the future. On the other hand, 17% of respondents realized that in the changed daily office life, most business trips can be easily replaced with video calls. 23% even see video calls as the future of everyday office life.