Leisure travel falls alongside business travel as delta sweeps country

More than two-thirds of people looking to travel for leisure are planning to scale back their plans because of surging cases of COVID-19, according to new industry research.

A survey conducted last month by Morning Consult, on behalf of the American Hotel & Lodging Association and released Tuesday, found that 69% of leisure travelers are likely to take fewer trips, 55% are planning to suspend travel plans, and 42% are likely to cancel existing travel plans with no intent to reschedule.

The delta variant , which began taking hold in July, has threatened the country’s economic recovery and has raised new case numbers, hospitalizations, and deaths. At their lowest point this year, average daily infections were hovering above 10,000 nationwide. Now, infections are averaging  about 132,000 per day, with deaths up more than 30% from two weeks ago.