With vaccinations intensifying, people around the world are eagerly awaiting new trips, and 64 percent of respondents say traveling is more important to them now than before the pandemic, according to a booking.com study released Wednesday that included more than 28,000 passengers.

The digital travel platform booking.com published the results of a survey conducted in January this year among more than 28,000 travellers from 28 countries and territories, including 1,001 respondents from Croatia. Research shows that after months of travel restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic, passengers finally see the “light at the end of the tunnel,” thanks to the use of vaccines and other medical advances in the fight against Covid-19.

Thus, two-thirds of travellers from around the world in 2021 are more likely to travel due to their commitment to the Covid-19 vaccine, and the same number of travellers, 66 percent, said because they were unable to travel in 2020 that it stimulated an even greater desire for travel this year.

More than half of travellers worldwide, 59 percent, said they would not travel abroad until they received the vaccine, and 55 percent of passengers said they would travel only to countries that have introduced vaccination programs.

But 41 percent of respondents still have some level of restraint and scepticism about whether the vaccine will really contribute to safer travel, noted booking.com.

Travellers confirmed that not being able to travel in 2020 as in previous years had a significant impact on their well-being - 48 percent noticed a negative effect on their mental health and 47 percent said they felt confined to their own home due to travel restrictions. And 64 percent of them said travel was more important to them now than it was before the pandemic.