What are travelers looking for after the pandemic?

All of a sudden, for obvious reasons, we weren’t allowed to travel.

As is the case for other businesses, websites, companies, and entrepreneurs who depend on tourism and exchanges between people from different cultures, the consequences of the pandemic have seriously impacted Worldpackers.

Around mid-April, when we were experiencing the tumultuous beginning of this situation and with the virus still recently arrived in Brazil, we had no idea what would happen to Worldpackers.

We were sad to hear the news of many hosts closing the doors of their projects indefinitely. And of the hundreds of travelers who had to stop in the middle of their journeys, and the people who had everything lined up to start traveling - some who even quit their jobs to travel for however long - but had to put off their plans.

How will people travel after the pandemic?

We still don't know exactly how the pandemic will impact the way people travel inside and outside of their countries. It’s been extremely difficult to make any kind of predictions, especially about when other countries will open their borders to tourism again and allow people to come and go normally.

On the other hand, we now have the possibility to further study people's travel intentions and how the pandemic may (or may not) have affected their motivations and goals when they hit the road.

In a survey of its travel community, Worldpackers received almost 1,700 responses from people around the world registered on our site. Throughout this article, I’ll explain these responses and what Worldpackers travelers are looking for in more detail.

Travelers' goals for the next few months

All in all, 237 travelers from countries in Europe, Oceania, or North America (excluding Mexico) responded to the survey and shared their motivations and impressions on traveling from now on.

In the graphs below, we show more about the nationalities, age group, and individual monthly incomes of the respondents:

In the table below, you can see how the pandemic affected these people’s employment:

When asked what they are planning to do in the coming months, the most common answer is "save money to travel in 2021", followed by "find a job that gives me the flexibility to travel more".

Goals and travel plans for 2020

For everyone who answered that they have plans to take some kind of trip - be it for languages, volunteering, or anything else - the chart below shows their answers for what they hope to achieve with this trip:

When asked when they intend to take this trip, we see that these travelers have a greater intention to travel already at the end of this year:

When asked how the pandemic will affect the way they travel, we can see this group’s concern with traveling to places where the pandemic is controlled so there’s no risk to them during their trip:

Spanish speakers: looking to learn a language

All in all, 826 travelers from Spanish-speaking countries responded to the survey and shared their motivations and impressions for traveling from now on.

In the graphs below, you can see the nationalities, age group, and individual monthly incomes of the respondents:

According to the survey, the pandemic appears to have had an even greater impact on unemployment, as approximately 22% of respondents said that they lost their job due to the pandemic.

When asked what they are planning to do for the next few months, the most common answer was "do an exchange to learn or improve a language", followed by "change my lifestyle to one that really makes sense for me" and "save money to travel in 2021 ".

Spanish speakers: goals and travel plans

For everyone who answered that they have plans to take some kind of trip - be it for languages, volunteering, or anything else - the chart below shows their answers for what they hope to achieve with this trip:

When asked when they intend to take this trip, we see that there is a tendency towards planning for later this year and the beginning of next year:

The final question of our survey focused on exactly how these people will travel from now on (assuming of course that they will be allowed to travel at any given time). 

Although the main motivations to travel remain similar to the current "develop new skills and/or languages" and "travel more cheaply", there’s also been an increase in concerns about hygiene and health in travel destinations and places of accommodation.

Brazilians: looking to learn a language

All in all, 635 Brazilian travelers responded to the survey and shared their motivations and impressions for traveling in the future.

In the graphs below, we display the age range and individual monthly incomes of the respondents in a little more detail:

According to the survey, approximately 49% of the respondents are continuing to work normally, either with regular hours, reduced hours, or autonomously even during the pandemic.

Additionally, as shown in the table below, when asked what they are planning to do in the coming months, the most common answer was "do an exchange to learn or improve a language", followed by "save money to travel in 2021", "develop skills and gain experience in a new field", and "change my lifestyle to one that really makes sense for me".

Brazilians: goals and travel plans

For everyone who answered that they have plans to take some kind of trip - be it for languages, volunteering, or anything else - the chart below displays the answers for what they hope to achieve with this trip:

When asked when they intend to take this trip, we see that there is a tendency towards planning for later this year and the beginning of next year:

The final question of our survey focused on exactly how these people will travel from now on (assuming of course that they will be allowed to travel at any given time). Although the main motivations to travel remain similar to the current "develop new skills and/or languages" and "travel more cheaply", we can see a considerable impact on the search for more authentic and immersive ways of traveling, having a positive impact on local communities.

As you can see in the chart of responses below, there’s also been an increase in concerns about hygiene and health in travel destinations and places of accommodation.

Only the end of this pandemic will allow us to see whether a concern for health issues and the desire to make a social impact while traveling will become a fundamental part of the way people travel or not.

We here at Worldpackers are continuing to improve our site so that the trips and exchanges we offer are even safer, more reliable, and positive for all involved. We will always be available to help any traveler or host who wants to become a part of our community.

Raffle Winners

Below is a list of the winners of our raffle that we held alongside our annual survey. The winning Brazilians and Spanish-speaking travelers each won the WP Academy plan. Winning travelers from the rest of the world each won the WP Trips plan. Congratulations to the winners!

• Brazilians: Iana Neiva, Mayara Teixeira dos Santos, Samanta Santana, Thiago Roos, Fernando Vieira de Mello, Betcy Vanessa, Rafael Gouw, Maria Aparecida Neris, Lorrana Guimarães, Henrique Passone.
• Rest of the world: Nicolas Steven, Marga Morrisey, Mirko Gamberini, Erfan Alm, Bethany Wissink, Khairi Karia, Shakiba Noorbakhsh, Annaliese Johnson, Sarah Sanchez e Rachel Steele.
• Spanish speakers: Juliana Ruiz, Deborah Estefania, Isamar Juanazo, Sheyla Maturrano, Ana Monita, Joaquin Fuentes, Marvin Miranda, Julieth Torres, Lola Chastang e Keila Zaleman.