38% Would Give Up Sex For A Year To Be Able To Travel Again, I’m Surprised It’s That Few

There’s so much pent up demand for travel thanks to the pandemic that 38% of Americans would be willing to give up sex for a year to travel freely,

[N]early half, or 48%, would give up their job, 38% would give up sex for a year, one-quarter would fork over all of their savings and 1 in 5 said they would dump their partner if it meant they could take a trip in the near future.

The good news is that people who are vaccinated should feel pretty confident in traveling now, at least to destinations that will have them – not because of how effective vaccines are at preventing symptomatic Covid-19, but because they’ve appeared to be almost completely effectively preventing severe disease and hospitalization, even against new variants of the virus, and because they reduce transmission as well.

At first blush it seems like ‘giving up sex for a year’ is a high price to pay for travel, but it may not be. People in relationships have either been building on those relationships during the pandemic or seen those relationships fray. They’re in great shape already or perhaps expecting those relationships to bear little fruit in the coming periods. Moreover people are having less sex than they used to anyway. Here’s why. (HT: Marginal Revolution)

Among young men, declines in drinking frequency, an increase in computer gaming, and the growing percentage who reside with their parents all contribute significantly to the decline in casual sex. The authors find no evidence that trends in young adults’ economic circumstances, internet use, or television watching explain the recent decline in casual sexual activity.

Perhaps rather than being a shocking statistic, the 38% willing to ‘give up sex for a year’ in order to get something they value are the same people who wouldn’t be sexually active anyway. In other words they aren’t giving up much? Even before the pandemic more than half of millennials said they’d give up sex to travel the world so maybe after distancing-fueled relationship droughts ‘only’ 38% means the number has actually gone down?

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. My instinct is to call bs on this, though I guess the answer depends on who it is assumed you are giving up sex with in order to travel.

    At any rate, we all know that the only thing exceeding pent up travel demand is pent up sex demand. You already pointed out this pent-up demand in a previous article.

  2. What percent of Americans would be polite, considerate and respectful in order to travel again?

  3. Regarding “ people are having less sex than they used to anyway”

    Lol, all of a sudden the frequency of sex is dependent on when men want it? I must be living in a parallel universe called reality.

  4. Survey must have had a high percentage of clergy. Doesn’t make sense otherwise…. why give up a years worth of fun for two weeks of fun???

  5. Um, hubby has been working from home for the last year…we are empty nesters…can you say afternoon delight? 38 % don’t know what they are missing.

  6. Stats are worthless unless you define sex. I doubt it’s 38% if you include self gratification sex. I expect the number drops to 1% if properly defined.

  7. most guys once they get married only do it twice a year (with their wives)- once on their birthday, once on their wedding anniversary. so, it probably isn’t any big deal for those losers.

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