Irish holidaymakers appear to have decided the pandemic is firmly in the past, with the vast majority indicating that their travel habits have returned to the way they were in pre-Covid times, according to research to be published today (Tuesday).
The annual travel survey from travel insurance company multitrip.com found that 82.9 per cent of Irish holidaymakers will be planning overseas trips as they did in times past. And despite the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, 87 per cent say they will take two or more overseas holidays in 2023, a figure which is virtually identical to the percentage recorded in 2018.
The dramatic shift in consumer attitudes to travel over the course of the last 12 months is laid bare in the online survey of 1,850 people. Some 73 per cent described themselves as “very or extremely hesitant” to travel in 2022, while 79 per cent say they now feel “very or extremely comfortable” travelling.
However, Covid has had a lingering impact, although not perhaps in the most obvious of ways. The research suggests that 45 per cent of those polled said the impact of the pandemic has made them more cautious, with the big worries around delays, queues and cancellations at airports. By contrast only 17.4 per cent of holidaymakers said they would be worried about getting sick while away.
The survey also looked into how the climate crisis was shaping overseas travel. It suggested that it is shaping the decisions of a growing number of would-be travellers, with 21.5 per cent of respondents saying the climate crisis has influenced their travel plans, 18.6 per cent saying they would be taking more staycations to reduce their carbon footprint and 14 per cent saying they would be willing to pay extra for flights to offset their carbon emissions.
