What’s Captifying the World: No more riding solo—Covid-19 has triggered Wanderlusters to ditch solo trips for travel with friends and family

Fuelled by the acceleration of vaccine rollouts and lockdown restrictions easing across the globe, consumers are now ready to turn dreams of their next big vacation into reality. 

In March, the TSA recorded that more than 1.5 million travelers passed through U.S. airports—marking the most passengers to fly in a single day in more than a year. American Airlines recorded their best three weeks since the Covid-19 pandemic hit and Australia & New Zealand announced they would begin quarantine-free travel later this month.

No more riding solo

Captify analyzed billions of searches to understand how the acceleration of vaccination rollout is impacting consumer appetite for travel across the globe and revealed an 84% MoM uplift in travel searches.

Our platform also identified that pre-pandemic travel trends such as solo travel have shifted, with an 89% MoM decrease in consumers searching around solo trips. Instead, an emerging audience of Wanderlusters are switching from traveling alone to traveling with friends and family. 

MoM search uplift for travel by audience profile: 

• Grandparents: +2336%
• Friends: +793% 
• Couples: +122% 
• Families: +64% 

Multi-generational trips are set to boom as families look to reconnect in new surroundings and take a long-awaited trip together. In particular, Grandparents, who are the most vaccinated of any age group, will make up for lost time and reunite with family members, with travel searches by this audience surging 2336%.

These travel trends are reminiscent of those after 9/11 when family travel boomed and the “togethering” term was coined—reflecting a desire to enjoy the emotional and physical bonds of spending time together and connecting in a meaningful way.

Quality over quantity

Captify dived deeper into trigger moments and connected interests of Wanderlusters to identify specific interests reflecting what they are looking for.

This emerging audience is searching for:

Quality Seeking: 17.5X more than average—travelers are seeking out quality travel experiences over a number of trips, triggered by a renewed interest in spending meaningful time and enjoying memorable experiences with loved ones.

Last-minute trips: 17.0X more than average—with travel restrictions still in flux, some travelers will be looking to book last-minute trips to avoid disappointment.

Thrill Seekers: 14.1X more than average—aware of how quickly things can change, Wanderlusters are taking a Yolo mentality, seeking out unforgettable and exciting travel experiences that they can enjoy together.

Connect with emerging travel audiences through search insights

Brand marketers can lean on fresh and dynamic data to monitor how mindsets and motivations are shifting, identify new and emerging travel audiences, and enable them to capture consumers in real-time moments of consideration and intent.

Get in touch to request a demo of Sense, Captify’s new Search Intent Platform designed for brands to discover critical consumer behaviors and insights, pinpoint the intent and size of audiences, and seamlessly activate programmatically across all channels—all powered by real-time intent.

*Data sourced from Captify’s global network from 01/01/21-03/31/21