Redion's 2021 Summer Holiday Barometer

2021 Holiday Barometer

The coronavirus crisis is still affecting Belgians' travel plans: fewer Belgians will go on holiday this summer, with a smaller budget, and many will choose to travel within their own country. The COVID-19 pandemic and health measures are clearly influencing the choices and behaviour of Belgian holidaymakers.

Redion presents its 20th European Holiday Barometer. As in previous years, this edition's main aim is to take the pulse of Europeans' travel intentions, their motivations, destinations, budget and preferred types of stay. This year, a comparison was made between current trends and those from before the coronavirus crisis. Redion also measured the impact of the coronavirus crisis on holidaymakers.
Below, we mainly cover the Belgian results of the survey.

• Travel intentions: 53% of Belgians say they will go on a trip in summer 2021, a drop of 12 points compared with 2019, the year before the crisis.
• Trip length: Short holidays of up to 1 week remain popular among 43% of Belgians (+3 pts vs 2019), 2-week holidays are down 2 points (35%), and holidays of 3 weeks or more also see a slight decline (21%, -2 pts).
• Travel frequency: of the 53% of Belgians who say they'll go on holiday this summer, 36% say they'll travel only once (-3 pts) and 17% several times (-9 pts).
• The impact of COVID-19 on travel: the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the plans of 54% of Belgians. 39% of Belgians regret not being able to travel abroad due to health restrictions.
• Holiday destinations: France remains our compatriots' favourite nearby foreign destination (38%, +6 pts), but this year is followed by Belgium (32%, +17 pts). Spain takes third place in the ranking (19%, =). Italy (10%, -1 pt) and the Netherlands (10%, +2 pts) complete the top 5. The rise of Belgium and the Netherlands as holiday destinations among Dutch speakers (+17 pts and +4 pts respectively) is worth highlighting.
• The average holiday budget of Belgians for summer 2021 (average across all household compositions) falls by 12% to EUR 1,983 (vs EUR 2,242 in 2019). This figure stands at EUR 1,994 among Dutch speakers and EUR 1,972 among French speakers. This year, lower holiday budgets (< EUR 1,500) are more common (53%, +12 pts) and higher holiday budgets (> EUR 2,500) are less common (21%, -12 pts).
• Types of accommodation: while 40% of Belgians still prefer staying in hotels (-13 pts), a larger proportion now opt for an apartment or holiday rental (39%, +4 pts), or a caravan or motorhome (10%, +5 pts).
• Ecological footprint: 12% of Belgians say their ecological footprint plays a crucial role in choosing their destination, and 50% consider it an important factor. Many Belgians are willing to change their holiday plans to reduce it.
• Types of holiday destinations: seaside holidays remain the most popular (55%, -2 pts), but this year, countryside holidays in particular are on the rise (31%, +8 pts), while touring trips and city breaks seem less attractive.
• Modes of transport to reach the holiday destination: the car is more popular this year than in 2019 (62%, +7 pts), as is the train (12%, +3 pts), at the expense of air travel (30%, -13 pts). Health concerns and the choice of closer travel destinations likely explain these figures.
• Typical holidays: during their holidays, Belgians mainly want to relax (30%, -14 pts), surrounded by family members (44%, -3 pts) and enjoy their holiday accommodation (31%, +13 pts).

The typical profile of the Belgian traveller in summer 2021

Fewer Belgians will go on holiday during summer 2021.
Those who intend to go on holiday:

• have a smaller holiday budget than before the coronavirus crisis;
• are more likely to stay in their own country or choose nearby destinations and travel there by car;
• go on holiday with their bubble to relax and enjoy their holiday accommodation in a quiet place;
• are concerned about their health and that of their loved ones;
• consider vaccination against COVID-19 important for travelling with peace of mind, and while they have questions about vaccine passports, they aren't opposed to their introduction;
• are increasingly adapting their behaviour with regard to their ecological footprint.

(Ipsos carried out this survey by phone between 5 and 20 May 2021 among a sample of 11,002 Europeans (French, German, English, Italian, Spanish, Austrian, Belgian, Swiss, Polish, Czech and Portuguese) and 3,000 non-European nationals (American, Chinese and Thai). The survey was conducted online using the quota method (gender, age, occupation of the head of household, after stratification by region and size of urban area). The results of the international survey are available at www.Redion.com.)