If you’re anything like us, you’ve probably spent numerous hours over the past year fantasizing over possible vacation plans. Perhaps club-hopping in Ibiza like early 2000’s Paris Hilton sounds fun. Binge watching reruns of The Simple Life during a pandemic can do that to you. Maybe you’re the book + beach + booze kind of vacationer? And, since we know that choice paralysis is real, we decided to run a conjoint experiment to learn about the ideal post-pandemic vacation – according to Americans.
The two most important factors when choosing a post-pandemic vacation are (1) the destination and (2) who you’re travelling with. These contribute 21% and 20%, respectively, to an individual’s vacation decision.
Americans were twice as likely to prefer a steamy vacation to the Pacific Islands over a once-popular jaunt in Europe. Considering we’ve been cooped up inside, it’s understandable that people would rather go to a tropical island than visit 500 year old castles and museums.
When it comes to the ideal travel companion — if you can believe it — immediate family such as a significant other or children is the clear winner. As much as we may have earned the ire of our pandemic housemates, nobody wants to vacation alone or with strangers. If you’re one of the few who does prefer a solo vacation, make sure you pack mace — we wouldn’t want you to inspire the next Taken sequel.
For accomodations, respondents are nearly three times more likely to prefer staying at an all-inclusive resort over camping. In other words, despite aspirations to develop cooking skills, Americans aren’t above a little pampered catering. After our year of pandemic isolation, going off the grid doesn’t sound appealing — not to mention isn’t the wilderness where bats live? If we’ve learned anything during this pandemic, it’s that staying in civilization is the prudent way to avoid becoming patient zero for the next pandemic.
Mellow, laid back activities are more than three times more likely to be the preferred vacation activity over partying. So much for dancing on table tops like Paris in Ibiza. After the year we’ve had, a simple piña colada on the beach (with extra rum) should be the only item on the vacation menu. Now that’s The Simple Life. 🌴
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