To Travel or Not To Travel? – Here’s What We Found Out Through A Survey!

It has been nearly 2 months (or more, in certain countries) that people are restricted from unnecessary movements & requested to main the protocols of social distancing. Travel and travel planning are being disrupted across the world, due to the spread of the coronavirus.

As the pandemic is still thriving across the globe and countries continue to tighten their travel restrictions, questions about where it is possible to travel and whether it is wise to do so have become increasingly complicated. Last week, Volunteering Solutions tried to reach out to a bunch of enthusiastic travelers who have been a part of responsible tourism and asked them about what they’re thinking when it comes to travel planning. It was quite an interesting response – and we couldn’t be more delighted to see that more than 95% of people said they’d wanna travel in December 2020 or in 2021.

Come, let’s take a quick look at the Travel Survey Reports:

1. We asked people if they’d be keen to travel during Christmas 2020 or Summer 2021 and the response has been overwhelming! About 95.5% of people said YES while just 4.5% said NO.

2. We wanted to understand if people know where they’d wanna go when the Pandemic gets over (‘coz now that we are home, we have a lot of time to do the research about where to go, what to do and add more to our ever-growing travel bucket list). The majority of the people voted for Southeast Asian countries, expressing the urge to travel to Sri Lanka, Thailand & India.

3. We, at Volunteering Solutions, collaborate with small organizations & local NGOs in various parts of the world (that are currently fighting the war against the invisible virus) and we really wanted to know if people would like to volunteer for a noble cause during your next trip in 2021. 87.3% of people said that they’d be interested in volunteering abroad in 2021 and we couldn’t be any happier!

4. We also told them that underprivileged people, living especially in parts of SE Asia, Africa & Latin America need support from volunteers when it comes to education, literacy, and human rights issues. 94.8% of people said that they are ready to step out of their comfort zones (once the pandemic gets over) and support us as volunteers, in helping to make this world a better place to live.

5. We’re still contemplating the fact that the prices of air tickets might increase. People were quite honest in accepting that it might bother them while planning international travels.

6. It was indeed a delight to know that 17.2% of people responded saying that they’d want to book their volunteer trips in January 2021, while 16.4% of people said December 2020.

7. Amazingly, people even have thought about the expenses that’d be involved in taking a volunteer trip and 31.1% of people said they’re interested in spending 500 USD to 700 USD, while 11.9% of people even showed the urge to spend more than 1500 USD.

8. We were thinking that people would be keen to join short term volunteering programs but to add to our surprise, more than 45% of people said that they’d wanna travel for more than 2 weeks and some even are up for month-long trips!

9. 85.9% of people expressed their eagerness to travel solo and volunteer, while some are keen to travel with family & friends as well.

The UN World Tourism Organization counted 1.4 billion international tourist arrivals in 2018, and, well before this crisis, had predicted 1.8 billion arrivals by 2030. With virtually all travel halted, recovery will take time.

It’s kind of difficult to predict when this condition of coronavirus pandemic will come under control, but we know that people will soon step out of their homes, embracing the ‘new normal’. We’ll again feel comfortable enough while traipsing around the world with the kind of carefree attitude we’ve always had, but this time, we’ll be more conscious & responsible for our acts.

But we strongly believe that Travel will be back — it has to be back! Instagram feeds that have lately been filled with nostalgic throwbacks to global adventures will slowly start to be peppered with new images and we’d love to see you doing some great work while volunteering in different corners of the globe.

If you’re keen to be a part of the Travel & Volunteer Survey, click here. We’d surely love to know about your perspective. And in the meanwhile, you can also check out the Best Volunteering Programs for 2021 and write to us on info@volunteeringsolutions.co.uk for any further information.