Overall tourism in U.S. was down in 2020, but many people wanted to get out and explore rural areas close to home

Though overall U.S. tourism fell in the pandemic-plagued year of 2020, several travel companies and rural communities with tourism economies told a writer for The Daily Yonder that they saw a rise in domestic tourism, especially from locals wanting to get out of and explore nearby areas by car.

"Leigh Barnes, chief customer officer for operator Intrepid Travel, said that during the height of the pandemic they saw people wanting to stay close to home and get to know their own country and the cultures within it better," Kristi Eaton reports for the Yonder. "Although overall numbers were down, Barnes said Intrepid Travel has seen increased interest in outdoor activities" such as cycling trips, canoeing, and hiking. State and national parks were often overwhelmed with tourists.

"That’s fundamentally been a shift, I think, over Covid," Barnes told Eaton. "Everyone was wanting to travel and experience other peoples’ cultures – there has been that shift. What that means for rural travel is that people are going back to different parts of their own country. I think we’re seeing an increase of people traveling to connect to understand themselves, understand their own culture."

Many tourists in rural areas showed an interest in food, including the history of food systems and learning about where their own food comes from, Barnes told Eaton.