Note from the editor: SCT's director of marketing systems & insights, Ariane Hiltebrand, is enjoying a well-deserved week off. The “Today’s Takeaways” and “Website Insights” segments will return in our next Performance & Insights communication. 
STR Tracking for Sonoma County
Things to Note:

  • STR is comparing “Weekly Year Over Year”
  • 49 of the county’s 113 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. 
Sentiment Snapshot
Perceptions regarding the safety of travel continues to improve, especially among younger travelers and residents in the south. Openness to travel remains steady with three quarters of respondents stating they at least hold tentative trip plans. And perhaps most promising, the number of respondents comfortable with tourists visiting their own communities is among the highest it has been since the onset of the pandemic. 
Destination Analysts Key Findings to Know
From Destination Analysts' Travel Sentiment Report
  • Americans’ near-term outlook on the pandemic is largely unchanged from last week, meaning pessimism remains in retreat. Strong concerns for COVID-19’s impact on personal health and financial safety are at or near the lowest levels recorded in the past 26 weeks.

  • Perceptions of travel activities’ safety—while still far from ideal—are the best they have been since the onset of the pandemic. Among the most confident they can travel safely right now are younger travelers and those in the South.

  • Over half of American travelers remain in a “ready to travel” versus “need more time” mindset and 75% continue to report that they have at least tentative trip plans.

  • The proportion comfortable with tourists visiting their own communities is among the highest it has been during the pandemic.

  • 13.0% of American travelers reported taking a trip for Labor Day, slightly lower than July Fourth (16.5%).

  • Over one-third of American travelers reports they took a leisure trip this past summer, with beaches and rural areas the most popular destinations. Over 80% of these travelers stayed overnight on these leisure trips, largely in friends/relatives homes and hotels, and over two-thirds said they researched the coronavirus-related rules and regulations in their trip destination.

  • Overall these summer trips provided a net increase in confidence that travel can be done safely right now.

  • 24.2% of American travelers who work for companies in which employees travel for business say that this travel has started again. Of those not yet back to business travel, a quarter anticipate this travel to return in January, but nearly half expect that it will be April or later.

  • Looking at how more (safe) travel can be inspired, online content, email, search engine marketing and social media are seemingly particularly effective.
Feeling Tourists in Community are Unwanted
From Destination Analysts survey April 17 - September 6
National Anxiety Map: Concerns about COVID-19's Impact
As of September 6
COVID-19 Weekly Travel Data Report

The U.S. Travel Association has released its latest COVID-19 Weekly Travel Data Report. In it, U.S. Travel compiles the outlook on travel spending from Tourism Economics, Arrivalist’s Daily Travel Index, ADARA's Traveler Trends Tracker, Travel Sentiment data from Longwoods International (supported by Miles Partnership), and a Harris poll on workcations.

You can access U.S. Travel’s COVID-19 Weekly Travel Data Report here.