The COVID Impact: Changing Travel Habits and Rising Prices

Nuremberg/Milan, April 19, 2021 - The new report, in collaboration with TRASPOL and the Polytechnic University of Milan, shows a remarkable change in traveler habits in Italy and price increases during an out-of-the ordinary year. The pandemic, repeated lockdowns and constant changes in regulations on quarantines certainly added their share. Previous years promised an absolutely upward 2020, but demand drops significantly as early as February.

2020 was a difficult year for everyone, both for travelers, who were forced home by repeated lockdowns and quarantines, and for transportation companies, who found themselves having to shut down the engines of their vehicles even for months at a time. Along with these, a whole world of tourism-related services came to a virtual standstill.

The eighth report on long-distance bus market trends, presented by Milan Polytechnic TRANSPOL and CheckMyBus, is different from all its previous editions: Italians not only traveled less, they traveled differently.

In the report presented last year, research trends projected a steadily increasing 2020, but this was true only for the month of January. Already February suffers a significant drop in demand, due to the first cases of Coronavirus in Italy. The rest of the first half of 2020 shows a reduction in searches on CheckMyBus of up to 75 percent.

We find a partial recovery across the board beginning in late spring, which continues into summer. The levels reached are never higher than in January, and comparison with previous years reveals a 2/3 drop in searches. With October restrictions return, due to the second wave, and the trend turns negative again until the end of the year. Also in contrary to previous years is the price trend: the companies, in order to recover the costs of the many lost revenues, have increased tickets by about 50%, especially in the second half of the year. In particular, and again in the opposite direction to what was previously the case, the larger companies increased the price of their tickets more than the smaller companies did.

Looking at the differences region by region, we see that the South, which was less affected at the beginning of the pandemic, has resumed traveling earlier than the North. The most searched routes are between Lazio-Abruzzo (11 percent) and Campania-Abruzzo (6 percent). Calabria appears in nearly one-fifth of the searches, particularly paired with Lombardy, despite the fact that such long rides have suffered the most: in fact, Italians have avoided as much as possible travel that would strand them for so many hours in an enclosed space, where the risk of contagion is significantly higher.

However, the pandemic has not only meant a general decline in transportation, but also a change in travelers' habits: users have been split almost in half between men and women, after years of a female majority. Young people have proportionately traveled more, certainly helped by the lower risk to their health, and possibly also by the increased digitization of many Italian companies.

In terms of airport connections, longer routes have almost disappeared, giving way to shorter trips, mainly to the major airports of Rome and Milan. The capital also conquers the position of first internationally sought-after city, overtaking the Lombard capital.

The eighth report on long-distance bus market trends in Italy, prepared by the Milan Polytechnic TRANSPOL in collaboration with CheckMyBus, shows the change in the bus market during an out-of-ordinary year-cause Coronavirus. The entire report can be downloaded here (Italian): Report on the Long-Distance Bus Market in Italy | YEAR 2020.

Among other things, the report was shared at the webinar, held with Autobusweb.com on April 16, 2021. Click here to see the debate, which also involved FlixBus, Marino Autolinee and SIMET, among others.

CheckMyBus, the international long-distance bus search engine shows real-time departures and prices in more than 80 countries. With buses and millions of weekly departures, customers can have access to a virtual network of bus connections around the world. Tickets and more information at www.checkmybus.it

TRASPOL is part of the DAStU (Department of Architecture and Urban Studies) of the Politecnico di Milano. The Laboratory is involved in research, training and consulting in the field of transport and infrastructure, particularly the relationship between public planning, economics and regulation. TRASPOL has been studying the long-distance bus market in Italy and abroad since 2011, in the broader context of long-distance passenger transport (rail, air). More information: www.traspol.polimi.it

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