With vaccines rolling out across the globe, travelers want to reclaim what they left most behind during the lockdown era: summer vacation.

Travel searches are increasing and reservations are not far behind. But this does not happen uniformly across continents.

Here’s who’s booking, where people are traveling, and what again draws travelers back home.

More than half (56%) of Europeans intend to travel this summer, with the vast majority choosing to stay on the continent, according to the European Travel Commission, a non-profit organization that represents more than 30 countries in Europe .

Almost half (49%) of survey respondents plan to travel to another European country, while 36% intend to stay within their own borders. Among those most likely to travel, 29% are planning between May and June, while 46% wait until July and August, according to the study released in April.

Family and friends are taking a back seat this year; only 19% book trips mainly to see them. Two-thirds (66%) of people most likely to travel are motivated by leisure, and 34% prefer a trip by the sea.

Over 50% of travelers are willing to fly, while car travel (36%) is the second most popular transportation choice.

Portugal is 6th on the European Travel Commission’s list of most popular destinations, but its poll predates a mad rush for bookings from UK travelers following Portugal’s inclusion on the UK’s ‘green list’. United on May 7.

Israel, Iceland and several other overseas countries and territories are also on the green list, which means that from today travelers from England will no longer need to quarantine on the way back from there.

“Americans continue to take the opportunity to explore their own backyards and discover destinations in the United States,” said Misty Belles, CEO of Virtuoso, a global network of travel agencies specializing in luxury and experiential travel.

While Hawaii and other beaches attract those trying to unwind after a stressful year, Alaska appeals to travelers who would otherwise have left the United States.

“High-end travelers who might normally head to more exotic places, like Africa, opt for the outdoors, adventure playground and big game viewing from Alaska,” a- she declared. “With no cruise ship entering Alaska ports this season, people are exploring overland and discovering more of the inland terrain.”

California draws people to perennial favorites like Napa Valley, while East Coast travelers book trips to Nantucket and Cape Cod, Belles said, adding that summer availability in those areas was already scarce.

Places with less name recognition also attract travelers. Almost 70% of Airbnb searches for Memorial Day weekend in the United States are for off-the-beaten-path locations within 50 to 300 km of travelers’ homes. The main rural areas of the site for the holiday weekend beginning May 29 – which is considered by some to be the unofficial start of summer in the United States – are:

• Alamosa County, Colorado.
• Nye County, Nev.
• Sanpete County, Utah
• Angel Fire, NM
• Forks, wash.
• Sandpoint, Idaho
• Washington County, Va.
• West Yellowstone, Mont.
• Jackson County, North Carolina
• Harper’s Ferry, W.Va.

Compared to Memorial Day travel trends of two years ago, Airbnb data shows triple-digit search increases for tents (260%), houseboats (142%), farm stays (119%) and tree houses (111%), with some travelers abandoning hotels for more original and isolated accommodation.

While flight bookings have increased, car travel still reigns supreme – at least on social media. As of April 29, of more than 1.6 million travel conversations on Twitter, road trips have been mentioned more than 32,000 times and thefts 22,000 times, according to the social media analytics company based in Chicago Sprout Social.

While Americans are expected to travel extensively within the country this year, searches for transatlantic air tickets rose 47% after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said vaccinated Americans might be able to travel to Europe this summer, according to the Montreal travel app Hopper.

London, Paris and Barcelona are the most popular European cities in terms of total searches, but data from Hopper showed that Denmark (+ 84%), Poland (+ 72%) and Switzerland (+ 63%) have experienced the biggest percentage change in searches following Leyen’s comments on April 25.

Online searches for Croatia (+ 31%) and Iceland (+ 22%), both already open to Americans, also increased following von der Leyen’s comments.

“Internationally, we see great optimism for the reopening of Europe,” said Belles.

While Greece and Iceland are popular with Virtuoso’s clientele, she said “the number one European destination, with reservations already secured even before the borders open, is Italy.”

“This is not entirely surprising given that Italy is still among the best destinations in the Virtuoso network, but it shows that people are eager to return to their favorite places,” she said.

Virtuoso’s top destinations for Americans’ summer hotel reservations are (in order): US, Italy, Mexico, France, Bahamas, UK, Greece, Canada, Spain and Ireland.

If Europe opens up to them, Americans may have another reason to celebrate. Flights to Europe are cheaper than in the past, according to Hopper.

“Reopening a country can allow more competition between airlines and increase the supply of seats sold along these routes, which tends to reduce air fares in the short term,” said Adit Damodaran, economist at Hopper.

Airline tickets to Iceland fell after the country reopened, and similar trends are occurring for transatlantic flights as it becomes increasingly likely that Europe will open to vaccinated Americans this summer, a he declared.

The trend, however, is not expected to last much longer.

“Hopper estimates that the price of a plane ticket to Europe will hit a low of $ 700 round trip around May 15, before climbing to around $ 775 around mid-June,” Damodaran said.

There were particularly great deals on round-trip plane tickets to Portugal ($ 501) and Iceland ($ 530) last week, he said.

Summer travel between Asian countries is still largely crippled, with the region grappling with rising Covid rates linked to the B.1.617 variant first identified in India last December.

Infection rates remain high in regions like the Philippines and Indonesia, while vaccination rates are low in Asia. Over the past month, countries with relatively stable cases – places like Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam – have also seen an increase in new infections.

The few Asian destinations that welcome mass tourism, namely the Maldives and Sri Lanka, are experiencing calamitous peaks of infection.