Survey Finds Families Will Hit The Road This Summer
- by Larissa Faw , May 14, 2021
Only 10% of moms say their families will be staying home this summer, according to new research from BSM Media. In fact,44% of moms admit to planning multiple vacations to make up for lost time together last year.
The most popular vacation will be road trips, an important decision for out-of-home advertisers. Two in three moms (63%) say they have a road trip planned with 22% of those trips ending up in a state or national park. Less than 2% will take a cruise and only 8% will travel outside the United States.
This increase in family vacations, most particularly those taken in a car, will positively impact sales of everything from car snacks to travel entertainment according to BSM Media.
“The spike in family road trips means moms –– known largely as the household CEO, chief shopper and family travel agent –– will be spending more on food, fidget toys, technology and out-of-home entertainment,” explains Maria Bailey, CEO, BSM Media. “More hours in the car means more Little Bite’s and GoGo Squeez being passed to the backseat as well as additional purchases on books, e-games, and paper products. Smart brands will recognize the opportunity and provide moms with solutions for on-the-go food and entertainment.”
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Moms are also rolling out the red carpet at home. The majority of moms (57%) are planning a gathering of people at their home this summer. Four in 10 (40%) are planning an event to reunite family members and friends they missed during COVID, while 30% are planning a special dinner.
These will be low-key occasions with six in 10 (60%) of these events expected to be a backyard celebrations and BBQs. Their top reasons for these celebrations are birthdays (55%), 4th of July (37%) and to make up events for events missed in 2020 (14%).
While moms are happy COVID seems to be behind them, there are some slight adjustments they expect to permanently adapt and maintain. Among those new habits that will become part of the new normal are use of hand sanitizer (73%), doing more outside (72%) and continuing a hobby they learned in 2020 (41%) and using food delivery services like Door Dash (31%). Moms also intend to be in their cars for shopping. Nearly two in three (63%) intend to continue using curbside pick-up.
The survey of 570 moms across the United States was conducted the week of April 24th- 30th via an online survey.
Thanks for the great article Larissa! I think this is again more confirmation that local TDA's and their marketing dollars are going to be critical this year - but not in the fashion they're used to being. With locations through the peak and shoulder months booked up as early as last fall - it won't be urgent to try to draw tourists, as much as it will be to spend money supporting the local shops. Not just in promoting their services, but in promoting seasonal help - as all across the country you're seeing destinations struggling to find wait staff, life guards, retail workers and everything else that makes the tourists trips successful! So while I'm sure many agencies will use this year as a case study at "how great the rebuilt after the pandemic" - the reality is, tourism is going to spike anyway - so it's up to the TDA's to invest the marketing dollars now to ensure future success. Not to mention, putting a lot of those dollars toward 1st party data collection would be extremely wise and valuable given the high occupancy rates.