In William Blair’s latest research, travel was one of the categories that saw the sharpest decline since early November, while cruise plans were mixed.
The broker’s “Consumer Pulse” asked 500 people about their plans and attitudes towards a range of activities.
Regional division
Trends were broken down by region, with concern increasing in approximately half of the regions (led by New England, South East and South Central), with New England region now being the most concerned and Upper Central being the least concerned.
The broker company’s survey found that consumer activity has declined from the pandemic-era highs, but is well above last year’s levels. Despite little-changed concerns, more than 75% of reported activity slowed sequentially from the polls’ highs in early November, essentially returning to October levels, and likely partially reflecting consumers shopping early for the holidays due to supply chain constraints.
Overall plans for the next month slowed for about 70% of the categories, with rising categories led by movie visits, car purchases, and theme parks, while travel, personal events, and in-store clothing purchases saw the largest declines in a row.
Next month cruise plans rose 0.2% from early November, but three month cruise plans declined from 4.4% in early November to 3.1% in early December. Cruise plans for the next six months rose from 5.2% to 4.5%. But plans for cruises over the next 12 months rose from 8.4% in early November to 10.4% in early December.
74.2% of those surveyed said they would not plan any cruises in the next year, compared to 73.6% in early November.
Omicron ‘in the head’
Cruise Critic’s weekly report, which ended on December 16, found that Omicron ranked number 1 for users of the site, but it didn’t stop them from booking.
Research on COVID procedures and protocols is ongoing and there are hot topics on the Cruise Critic forums about what happens if someone falls ill on board.
“Crusaders won’t be dissuaded from cruising because of Omicron, but they want to be sure they can sail and know what to expect on board. We’ve been through a period of fatigue with this type of content, but it has become important again to our readers, ”said Cruise Critic Editor-in-Chief said Colleen McDaniel.
‘From a sales perspective, Omicron also affected booking, which resulted in a slower start to December. This is also in line with typical seasonality, but we’ve been seeing a glimmer of stronger bookings in the last few days (compared to the previous 10 days). ‘
Cruiser mood survey
Between November and December, Cruise Critic again saw slight signs of uncertainty when asked about booking future cruises. In the US, 63% of respondents said “Yes, I already want to book a future cruise,” 3% less than in November. Those who respond: “I’m not sure I’ll book a future cruise” (15%) are up 3% from November.
In the UK, the shift is even bigger: only 49% of respondents said they were planning to book a future cruise, up from 60% in November. And instead of moving on to uncertainty, more and more people are saying they will book when restrictions and warnings wear off (34% – down from 24% in November), suggesting the Omicron variant could have a bigger impact overseas.
For those who rethink their cruise plans (a small percentage, 7% of all respondents), the reasons for this sentiment change. More and more people are concerned about being quarantined on board (49% versus 44% last month); concerned about the COVID-19 infection (49%, down from 35% in November) and concerned about the destination they would travel to (42%, down from 24% a month ago).
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