A survey by Virgin of around 2,000 British adults found two in five (40%) have missed being able to take a trip to the US, while 52% want to travel to places they’ve never seen before. Around 40% of respondents said they were keen to visit national parks such as Yosemite or Joshua Tree.
More than a quarter (27%) said they wanted to revisit their favourite destinations, while the biggest inspiration for travel comes from lockdown "binge watching", with US TV shows and movies topping the list of travel inspirations (13%).
New York was the airline’s most sought-after city destination with more than a third (39%) of respondents identifying the city as their location of choice.
Following the initial announcement of the US reopening on 20 September, Virgin’s Orlando bookings increased by 120% and more than a quarter (26%) of those surveyed said they wanted to visit Walt Disney World Resort and/or Universal Studios.
Virgin Atlantic also claims to have experienced a 70% increase in bookings from the US to the UK since the reopening was confirmed in September.
Juha Jarvinen, chief commercial officer at Virgin Atlantic, said the data demonstrates that customers are "more excited than ever" to return to the US to "explore, relax or reconnect with loved ones".
"We’ve greatly missed flying our customers to the US and we can’t wait to welcome them back onboard to help make their American dreams come true," he added.
Virgin Atlantic currently offers direct flights between Heathrow and New York with return fares from £358pp, Las Vegas from £507pp and Orlando from £410pp.
