New research found that the most important factors to encourage U.S. consumers to travel again were the availability of a COVID-19 vaccine (55 percent) and a drop in infections (48 percent), according to a survey by the booking platform GetYourGuide, which was conducted by Dynata, a first-party data and insight platform.The survey polled 2,032 U.S. leisure travelers between the ages of 25 and 64 from May 22 to June. Other factors that would motivate people to travel again included seeing friends and family (43 percent) and travel deals (40 percent). Trending Now Respondents said the “most popular parameters to select activities” were, respectively, “the hygiene standards of tours,” “avoiding crowds,” “cancellation flexibility” and “smaller group tours.”Sixty-three percent of respondents said their “biggest barriers to travel this summer” included contracting COVID-19, fear of “getting stuck or quarantined” in another state or country (53 percent) “uncertainty about what is open” (45 percent) uncertainty about government regulations in each destination (35 percent) and the fear of losing money due to the need to cancel (33 percent).“U.S. respondents are less likely to visit an indoor museum or attraction, but show increased interest in outdoor adventure activities and river cruises,” the survey said. “Americans are generally wary of theme parks, museums, public transportation and restaurants, but increasingly interested in outdoor attractions and walking tours.”The survey stated that “comfort with car travel is increasing while comfort with all other types of transportation have decreased.”Additionally, “Americans prefer their own home or relative/friend’s home to all other accommodations,” the survey said.One unusual finding was that “the segment of the U.S. population most willing to return to travel is not its youngest but those in the highest risk category,” the survey found. “Forty percent of respondents are considered ‘eager travelers,’ or those who plan to travel within the next one to six months. This most adventurous group overwhelmingly skews older, with 56.9 percent over the age of 45.” Let's block ads! (Why?)