1 in 3 travellers keen to stick to holiday plans

Utrecht, 16 June 2020

EURAIL: 1 in 3 travellers keen to stick to holiday plans this year

Eurail’s survey on the impact of Covid-19 on travel shows that people look for added flexibility and are more likely to travel by train over other transportation modes.

According to a recent online survey* carried out by Eurail to better understand what the impact of Covid-19 is on people’s future travel plans, about 1/3 of the respondents who had planned a holiday this year considers sticking to their plans. Citizens from the Netherlands (41%) are among the most resilient, followed by German (31%) and British citizens (30%). When it comes to non-European countries, US travellers are the most confident about the possibility to travel this year, with 30% of the respondents not considering giving up on their travel plans.

With regards to international travel, over half of the respondents globally (55%) still considers travelling abroad this year, while the remainder 45% plans to travel abroad in 2021.

Respondents from out of Europe are less positive than Europeans about short term international travels. In fact, 67% of Dutch respondents expect to travel internationally in 2020, as opposed to only 23% of the Australians – who are nonetheless very positive about travelling internationally in 2021, with 68% of them expecting to travel abroad next year.

As per the preferred means of transportation, travelling by train on a rail pass appears to be the option most often considered for future travels overall (41%), followed by the private car (38%) and the train with a point to point ticket (24%). When asked what aspects would motivate them to book a rail pass and travel as early as they can, 37% of respondents overall have indicated that flexible cancellations and refund policies would play a major role, closely followed by the opportunity to obtain promotional fares. As far as the travel destinations are concerned, an overwhelming 86% of respondents said to be likely or very likely to select a destination in the nature or countryside, or to opt for smaller, lesser known cities as first holiday destination as soon as it is safe to travel again.

About Eurail and Interrail

Eurail gives travellers from all over the world the opportunity to experience flexible, borderless train travel across Europe. With a Eurail or Interrail Pass (for non-European and European citizens respectively), travellers of all ages can use an expansive network of train and ferry connections to travel in and between up to 33 countries. Eurail and Interrail Passes are available via the Eurail.com and Interrail.eu web shops, as well as via an extensive network of trusted distribution partners worldwide. Eurail B.V. is owned by over 35 European railway and ferry companies, and is based in Utrecht, the Netherlands. For more information, visit www.eurail.com or www.interrail.eu.