Russia-Ukraine Conflict Travel Survey — 40% to Reconsider 2022 Travel Plans, 36% of Americans Feel Less Safe Traveling Since Russia’s Invasion

It is now March and summer travel across the United States will begin in a few months. We fully expect a large portion of people to travel more this year than summer 2021, and those results can be seen in our 2022 Summer Travel Survey and in our 2022 Memorial Day Travel Survey. “Revenge travel” is still fresh on the minds of many Americans. And, with COVID numbers decreasing, summer travel seems like it should return close to normal. However, a new worry has now spread across the world. Russia has invaded Ukraine. And, now war wages.

We set out to conduct this Russia-Ukraine Conflict Travel Survey to determine the sentiment of travelers as the war in Ukraine progresses. Has Russia’s invasion of Ukraine made people reconsider 2022 travel plans? With oil prices increasing and airspaces across the globe closed to many airlines, how far are people willing to go to still travel? Are they willing to pay more money? What about their willingness to take a longer time to travel? Are they willing to do more flight layovers? How safe do people now feel about traveling, both domestically and abroad? Below you can find the results to these questions as well as demographic data.

Has Russia’s invasion of Ukraine made you reconsider 2022 travel plans?

Photo: Eric Jones screenshot via SurveyMonkey

Let’s take a look at the survey results:

• Yes, domestically and internationally. — 14.32%
• Yes, but only internationally. — 25.18%
• No. — 60.49%

Interesting Demographic Comparison — The Middle Atlantic region was the region most likely to say they are reconsidering their 2022 travel plans due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This region consists of the states of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. 45.66% of Middle Atlantic American adults said they are now reconsidering their 2022 travel plans. 16.18% of these people said they are reconsidering travel both domestically and internationally. 29.48% of them were reconsidering only internationally.

Key Takeaway — Nearly 40% of Americans said that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has made them reconsider 2022 travel plans. This figure includes the 14.32% that are reconsidering both domestic and international travel. Also, it includes the 25.18% that are only reconsidering international travel. According to the latest census, the 39.5% that say the invasion made them reconsider 2022 travel plans represent 102 million American adults.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused oil prices to rise and many airspaces across the globe to be closed to specific airlines. Are you willing to do any of the following to reach your travel destination in 2022? (Check All that Apply Except If You Are Checking the Last Choice.)

Photo: Eric Jones screenshot via SurveyMonkey

Let’s take a look at the survey results:

• Pay more money. — 26.46%
• Take longer to travel. — 26.19%
• More flight layovers to go around specific airspace. — 15.24%
• Fly to a different city and drive.  — 14.69%
• Find a different mode of travel altogether. — 19.07%
• Postpone trip and hope the situation resolves itself. — 24.36%
• None of these. — 35.22%

Interesting Demographic Comparison — American adults aged 18-29 were most likely to say they were willing to take longer to travel to reach their destination. 36.20% of this age bracket said this. However, only 25.94% of those in the 30-44 age group did. And, only 20.85% in the 45-60 age bracket did. Lastly, 23.33% in the over 60 age bracket said they would be willing to take longer to travel. American adults aged 18-29 were also most likely to say they would accept more flight layovers and would be willing to fly to a different city and drive.

Key Takeaway — Nearly 65% of American adults said there was at least one inconvenience they would allow in order to reach their travel destination in 2022. The 64.78% that said this equate to about 167 million people. The most common inconveniences people would endure were paying more money at 26.46% and taking longer to travel at 26.19%. On the other hand, the least common inconvenience people said they’d endure was flying to a different city and then driving to their destination.

After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and remembering the shoot-down of civilian flight MH17 over Ukraine in 2014, how do you feel about traveling right now? 

Photo: Eric Jones screenshot via SurveyMonkey

Let’s take a look at the survey results:

• Less Safe than Before. — 35.95%
• About the Same. — 61.77%
• More Safe than Before. — 2.28%

Interesting Demographic Comparison — Women were much more likely than men to say they feel less safe traveling now than before Russia’s invasion. Women were 1.5 times more likely to say this. 42.54% of women said they feel less safe traveling now. On the other hand, only 28.38% of American adult men said they felt less safe to travel now than before Russia’s invasion. People over 60 at 42.22% were the most likely to say they feel less safe. All other age groups answered this question relatively the same.

Key Takeaway — Nearly 36% of American adults feel less safe traveling now than before Russia’s invasion. The 35.95% equates to roughly 93 million people. This is not surprising based on question 1 where about 40% of people said they were now reconsidering their 2022 travel plans.

Survey Methodology

This Russia-Ukraine Conflict Travel Survey was conducted by SurveyMonkey on behalf of The Vacationer. In total, 1,096 Americans over the age of 18 were polled on March 1. Of those surveyed, 46.71% were male and 53.29% were female. The age breakdown of participants included in this survey was 20.20% in the range 18-29, 29.25% in the range 30-44, 25.87% in the range 45-60, and 24.68% over 60. This survey has a confidence level of 95% and a margin of error of ±3.026%. You can learn more about SurveyMonkey’s sampling method by clicking here.

The questions were chosen and the results were analyzed by the post author, Eric Jones, who is a Mathematics and Statistics Professor at Rowan College South Jersey.

Editorial Disclosure: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.