Today's Takeaways
From SCT's director of marketing systems & insights, Ariane Hiltebrand

The recent traveler sentiment update by Destination Analysts (Oct 4, 2021) reveals that consumer sentiment is gradually recovering from the Delta variant situation, however continuing impacts on short term travel behavior are noticeable. Fortunately, the longer-term outlook is improving with confidence gains thanks to the U.S. border reopening and imminent vaccine options for younger children.
Destination Analysts Key Findings to Know
From Destination Analysts' Travel Sentiment Report
  • Americans are feeling more financially stressed lately. Only one-third (33.5%) of American travelers report that it is a good time to spend on travel, down from 41.3% in just 2 weeks. 

  • Over half (53.6%) of American travelers continue to say that what’s recently happened with the Delta variant makes them less interested in traveling. And while 68.2% of Americans report travel planning or dreaming in the past week, back in June this was at 78.7%.

  • In the past two weeks, the percent of Americans who report having trips plans in October and November has dropped another 4 percentage points for each month. 

  • Some American travelers are not entirely confident in the protection their COVID vaccines are currently giving them, fueling a strong likelihood for boosters. 52.3% of vaccinated American travelers feel confident or very confident in the protection against COVID-19 their vaccination is providing them; another 34.2% feel somewhat confident. Also, the recent progress towards COVID-19 vaccines for children ages 5 to 11 has made 32.9% of American travelers more interested in traveling in the next six months. 

  • The announced reopening of the U.S. border to vaccinated international visitors is generating excitement. Over 30% of all American travelers—and nearly 57% of those who travel internationally—say this announcement makes them more interested in traveling in the next six months.

  • This week, 18.7% of American travelers say there are places in the U.S. where they feel they wouldn’t be welcome as tourists. 50.6% of these travelers cite political differences as the reason.
Occupancy Data for Hotels & Short Term Lodgings
*Please note the charts below contain different date ranges.
Air Travel Year over Year
At Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport
Recent Travel by Month
At Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport
STR Tracking for Sonoma County
Things to Note:

  • STR is comparing “Weekly Year Over Year.”
  • 55 of the county’s 127 hotels report to STR.
  • The average from other destinations includes: Napa, Palm Springs, Monterey, South Lake Tahoe, and Vallejo/Napa Valley.
  • For more information on how data is calculated due to hotel closures, please refer to this document.
Smith Travel Research (STR) is the recognized leader in hospitality industry benchmarking around the globe. Powered by the world's largest hotel data sample, they deliver confidential data, accurate and actionable insights, and comprehensive solutions to empower decisions. Discover how STR collects data, how it is calculated, and a glossary of terms, by clicking here
To get your full statistics fix, with data from STR, AirDNA, and the Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport, make sure to check out the Monthly Tourism Destination Data Dashboard at sonomacounty.com/statistics.