Wow: 58% Are Willing To Have Their Location Tracked In Order To Travel

Wow: 58% Are Willing To Have Their Location Tracked In Order To Travel

I was pretty shocked the other day to see that Hawaii is evaluating the prospect of requiring ankle monitors in order to enforce its quarantine.  Even more so, I couldn’t imagine there would be significant support for a policy like that,  Well, it seems that I am may be wrong.  According to a survey by Global Rescue, 58% of respondents said they are willing to have their location tracked and traced with temporary data in order to travel.

Precautions For Travel

Respondents are willing to take a number of precautions for travel.  Of course, three of these are already taking place around the world to a certain extent.

• 91% are willing to subject themselves to screening and testing
• 73% are willing to disclose medical conditions related to a compromised immune system
• 93% are willing to share their past 14-day travel history
• 58% are willing to have their physical location tracked and traced with data temporarily retained

Now, it’s important to note first that the survey is a limited universe of people.  Global Rescue surveyed its members for this poll, which may skew the results a little from the general population.  Global Rescue’s about us page says, “We provide the finest integrated medical, security, travel risk and crisis management services available anywhere, delivered by our teams of critical care paramedics, physicians, nurses and military special operations veterans.”

So it’s safe to say that many of their members are part of a network of emergency responders.  Therefore, this may not be the same result as if you polled the general American public.  Keep in mind, these results are vastly different than a recent poll that showed a strong discomfort with airline travel.  Unfortunately, Global Rescue did not specify with respondents on airplane travel vs. vehicle travel.

But the poll still shocked me.  The fact that more than half of respondents are okay with being tracked and traced — undoubtedly by the government — is a troubling number.

Most Plan To Travel By Fall

If airlines and the travel industry want good news, this poll might give them a glimmer of hope.  The poll also found that 77% of respondents plan to make a trip by October.  And 36% are already planning a trip for some time between August and October.

The poll showed a willingness to travel sooner rather than later, with only 7% of respondents expecting their first trip in 2021.  This is a sharp contrast from a recent poll of younger generations that showed a wariness from young people to travel again.

• 77% are expecting to make a trip by the end of October
• 41% expect to make their next trip by July or earlier
• 36% are planning their initial trip sometime between August and October
• Less than 9% believe their earliest post-pandemic trip will be during the holiday months of November and December
• Less than 7% expect to make their first trip sometime between January and March 2021
• 7% predict their next trip won’t be until sometime after April 2021

Survey Details

Global Rescue collected poll results from April 23-24, 2020 from 1,300 members of its group.  The group did not provide a margin of error in its press release announcing the results.

Bottom Line

As I stated above, this is a very limited universe of people from the emergency services field, so some caution must be expressed with the results.  That being said, the results show at least some are willing to accept giving up some personal freedom for the freedom to travel (sort of ironic).  But it does surprise me a majority of those polled are willing to have their location tracked as they travel.  The poll also shows a strong willingness for travel again, demonstrating some people looking at the end of the summer to early fall to travel again.