Survey among Little Travel Society Instagram Followers – how will German families travel in 2021?

With trembling fingers we posted our Instagram story on January, 26th of 2021. In the darkest lockdown winter we wanted to know: “How do you feel about traveling in 2021?” The Little Travel Society team wasn’t even sure if it wanted to know the answer. Because: It could have been anything from “Thanks for the fancy pictures, but we’d rather dream about traveling this year than travel for real” to “As soon as we’re allowed to, we’ll go on a trip!”. Anyway, we were quite flabbergasted by the results (in a good way). But let’s start from the beginning…

How many families actually want to travel in 2021?

Over 8,000 followers viewed our “survey story” on January, 26th and 27th of 2021, and up to 2,700 followers answered individual questions. Wow! We appreciate very much this large number of participants! And also a large number of German families seems to be interested in a vacation in 2021… We could hardly believe it – the travel bug seems to torment our readers just as much as it torments the Little Travel team. 96% of the respondents answered that they would definitely like to travel in 2021. However, 63% wanted to wait until the end of January before booking.

When will our readers book their holiday and when would our readers like to go on vacation in 2021?

This year, booking procedures are definitely different than usual: half of the respondents will book spontaneously, some only in spring or when “there is better Covid news”.

And when do German families want to start traveling again? Half of the participants want to wait until summer, but over a quarter will go on vacation “as soon as we are allowed to travel again” (27%).

What are the top travel destinations for German families in 2021?

Most families want to travel in Europe (94%). This has certainly also to do with the fact that this year some families are applying other criteria for their choice of destination. A good hygiene concept (84%) and health system in the destination country (81%) naturally play an important role. However, many families also prefer to travel by car (80%). In an open question, a flexible cancellation policy (37%) and “few guests in the accommodation” (24%) were also mentioned as important criteria for a reservation in 2021. Among the European destinations, Germany and Italy are the favorite destinations for German families this year. But also other European destinations such as Austria, France, Spain, Denmark, Greece, the Netherlands or Croatia were quite evenly mentioned. By the way, among the 6% of families planning a long-distance trip, vacation destinations in Asia are right at the top of their list.

What kind of vacation do German families prefer in 2021?

However, the answer to the question of what kind of vacation German families are planning for 2021 was not particularly surprising. Most families are longing for sun, beach and sea (60%), 35% would like to be active in nature – probably due to the many many days and weeks in lockdown.

And what do respondents expect from hosts? The hosts will have to split themselves between opposing wishes! Some wish for “a touch of normality”, “Covid not being the main topic” or “not a slimmed-down program, but nice activities”. Still, others prefer to be cautious and want “no buffet”, “a good hygiene concepts” or even “a clear organization”. To sum this up, also travelers have very different approaches to the subject of Covid. But even if it will not be easy for the hosts to satisfy these different wishes, they will meet mainly empathetic and benevolent guests in 2021: Some of our readers probably “intentionally” misunderstood our question “What do you expect from hosts in 2021” and instead named kind wishes FOR the troubled hosts. We are so happy about this – only together we will get through this!

If you want to know more, you can find the link to all the results here. And now we wish you all a wonderful family trip with many beautiful moments in 2021. Hang in there a little longer!