With Labor Day now behind us, that means summer is unofficially over, and for a lot of people summer didn’t really feel like summer at all, thanks to the coronavirus. Going on vacation wasn’t easy considering all the social distancing guidelines, and it seems a lot of folks decided to skip it altogether.
A new ValuePenguin survey finds:
- 72% of Americans skipped summer vacation this year.
- For those who did take a vacation, 71% took a road trip instead of flying.
- Women were more likely than men to skip a summer trip this year (80% vs. 63%)
- 44% of folks didn’t use up any of their paid time off this summer, and 22% took less PTO than they normally would during the summer.
- As for the reasons folks didn’t use their PTO:
- 36% didn’t have anywhere to travel.
- 28% are saving it for a later date.
- 17% didn’t have the money to travel.
- 16% were too worried about being at risk of furloughs or layoffs.
- 13% felt guilty taking time off since they were working from home.
- The coronavirus forced a lot of people to miss out on special trips this year.
- In fact a third said they postponed milestone trips for things like an anniversary or graduation.
- That number goes up to 50% for those with children under 18.
In general, summer looked a lot different for people this year than in last year when it came to vacations. The poll finds:
- 52% said they went on fewer trips.
- 36% spent less money on travel.
- 11% took more staycations.
- 10% went different places than normal.
- 6% took more short weekend getaways.
And it seems going or not going on vacation caused a lot of friction for some this summer.
- 60% of Gen Z and 49% of Millennials say they fought with family or friends over summer travel.
- The fights were mainly over whether or not to reschedule a trip or event and their decision to travel or attend an event.
Source: ValuePenguin