Aussies wary of 2nd wave

THE majority of Australian travellers say they would cancel their domestic travel plans if the country was struck by a second wave of COVID-19, according to new research compiled by tech business Toluna.

The study suggests that 70% of prospective travellers currently take this view, with 56% also indicating they would cancel travel to a destination reporting a high number of COVID-19 cases.

Forced quarantine was also noted as a major turnoff for domestic travel, with 56% stating they would cancel travel plans if their arrival destination imposed a 14-day quarantine, while 44% also said they would cancel holidays if they were forced to quarantine upon returning to home to their own state.

The data also found that hygiene in the air was high on the list of concerns for travellers, with 65% stating face masks should be mandatory on flights, while 73% also wanted temperature checks to be mandatory prior to boarding, and 68% of Australians stated a desire for spaced seating in the air.

When it came to motivations for taking a domestic trip, 79% said they wanted to support the local tourism sector, while 59% indicated they wanted to take advantage of anticipated travel promotions.

Despite the obvious trepidation caused by the pandemic, encouragingly more than half of respondents also noted they planned on taking a domestic holiday at some stage this year.