Despite the continuing Ebola epidemic, a UF study suggests the majority of Americans don’t intend to change their holiday travel plans.
More than 90 percent of U.S. citizens who participated in the survey said the outbreak will not deter them from flying within the country, said Lori Pennington-Gray, professor and director of UF’s Tourism Crisis Management Institute.
“We thought there might be heightened concerns,” she said, “but we were pleasantly surprised.”
The study also suggested that more than 70 percent of Americans don’t believe contracting Ebola is likely if they travel by plane in the U.S. over the next few weeks, she said — a sigh of relief for the tourism and travel industries.
Pennington-Gray conducted the study with colleagues at the beginning of the month, so the death of a Sierra Leone surgeon with the virus in Omaha on Monday was not addressed.
Still, the UF professor said the biggest change she’s witnessed since the epidemic is an emphasis on sanitation while traveling.
“I traveled internationally last week and noticed people are taking more precautions,” Pennington-Gray said. “I saw a lot of hand sanitizers and wet wipes.”
UF industrial systems engineering sophomore Kelly Kammerer is among the 90 percent of people who still plan on traveling this season. The 19-year-old is flying home to Colorado for Thanksgiving Break.
“The risk of actually contracting Ebola while flying is smaller than the reward of spending the holidays with my family,” Kammerer said.
[A version of this story ran on page 5 on 11/18/2014]
