new normal

CALIFORNIA DRIVERS ARE TAKING 53.1% MORE ROAD TRIPS IN 2020

East County News Service
 
September 19, 2020 (San Diego) – A new report by seoClarity on changing travel patterns in the United States finds that since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Americans are taking more long-distance road trips, even while air travel has dropped sharply.  Road trips by Californians have risen sharply—and people in the San Diego region took the ninth most road trips of 350 major metropolitan areas studied, logging 73,900 long-distance road trips in 2020, an 86.1% rise over 2019.
 
Such a shift in travel behavior may serve as an example of the “new normal” when it comes to how Americans will travel to more distant destinations, the report concludes.
 
COVID-19 took hold during the warmer months and peak travel periods for many Americans, contributing to a more than 30 percent decline in total travel since 2019, according to recently released government data. However, while social distancing measures and remote work have led to a decrease in short-distance trips and a massive 70 percent decline in air travel, the number of miles logged on long-distance road trips has risen dramatically above last year's numbers. 

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