Randy WHite, CEO of White Hutchinson Leisure & Learning Group, yesterday published an in-depth analysis of data from two very recent Morning Consult polls conducted May 21-25 and June 2-5 among a sample of 2,200 US adults looking at when adults expect to return to restaurants and out-of-home (OOH) entertainment and cultural venues based on their incomes, education, generation and age.
Hutchinson said: “The most noticeable difference…for how soon people of different incomes plan to return to restaurants and OOH activities is that the lowest income group, those under $50,000 income, are saying they will not return immediately at as high a rate as the higher income groups, and more will wait for six or more months than the other income groups. This could be as attributable to limited or no discretionary income as much as to the coronavirus safety threat. Some of the one-month return expectations may be influenced not only by peoples’ concerns about catching Covid-19, but also by many venues still being locked down, so people know they can’t return immediately.
“Levels of educational attainment show a slight difference in what percent of people expect to return to activities in the next month. People without a college degree plan to return at the highest rate for many of the activities in the next month. Again, returning to a restaurant in one month has the highest return rate for all levels of education followed by a party or social event. Going to a concert has the lowest immediate return rate.
“There are noticeable differences in when the different generations expect to visit different OOH activities. Gen Z skews more to returning to restaurants in three months than in one month. When it comes to activities that will have large groups of people, the parties or social events and the LBEs and cultural venues, Baby Boomers are generally the least likely to return in the next month as well as in three months.
“The poll results by both income, education and generation consistently show that approximately one-quarter of people don’t plan to return to a restaurant for at least six months, rising to nearly or exceeding one-half for attending museums, amusement parks and concerts for the same greater than six-month time frame.”