The coronavirus has changed how we travel and that’s clear from a new AAA forecast which suggests 2020 will be the year of the road trip.
According to the association, Americans will take approximately 707 million trips this summer. That’s down nearly 15% from last year and the decline is being blamed on the pandemic.
However, the biggest change is how people are traveling. While air travel used to be popular, AAA estimated there will only be about 15.1 million plane trips this summer. That’s a staggering -73.9% decline from last year.
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While it’s no secret that airlines have been heavily impacted by the pandemic, they weren’t the hardest hit group. That honor goes to rail, cruise ship and bus travel which is slated to see an 86% decline.
The only category largely unaffected is trips using automobiles as 683 million road trips are expected this summer. That means 97% of all summer trips will be road trips.
While the number road trips is expected to fall 3.3% from 2019, road trips had averaged 87% of all summer trips over the past five years. That means while the number of road trips will decline, their overall percentage will actually increase.
The coronavirus has played a huge role in this shift as AAA projected there would have been 857 million trips this summer if it weren’t for the pandemic. However, there is a silver lining as gas prices remain low making road trips more affordable.
According to AAA’s senior vice president of travel, Paula Twidale, “Americans will get out and explore this summer though they’re taking a ‘wait and see approach’ when it comes to booking and are likely to book more long weekend getaways than extended vacations.”
