Sun, sand, margaritas—and no quarantine.
That, plus a $300 round-trip airfare, convinced Jon Heinz to book a four-day getaway to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, in November. He is monitoring the level of Covid-19 cases there, reading studies on the rate of virus transmission aboard planes and checking online reports from other travelers.
“We decided there isn’t any more risk than staying in Iowa,” says the 37-year-old chief information officer in Mason City, Iowa—a state where Covid hospitalizations are currently soaring. He and his wife are renting a condo with another couple and plan to find uncrowded beaches and only eat outside. In January, they are booked to take their two daughters on vacation to Aruba.
As Covid rates escalate in the U.S., more Americans are booking fall and winter travel to warm, beach-infused places outside the country. Many of these destinations have relaxed quarantine restrictions for U.S. travelers in recent weeks, hoping to boost tourism in what has been a financially devastating year for the travel industry.
While the majority of Americans still say they aren’t planning to travel over the holidays amid fears of getting coronavirus and worries about the safety of others, in October there was an uptick in the percentage of Americans who feel confident that they can travel safely in the current environment, according to market-research firm Destination Analysts.
