San Francisco, Sep 21 (IANS): After living months in isolation during the pandemic, the travel bug has hit millions of people and according to Google, 45 per cent of the top 100 questions related to travel in Search focused on the impact of Covid-19 and the desire to travel as safely and as soon as possible.

Google research, conducted with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), showed that 31 percent of people hope to plan leisure travel once they feel safe enough to do so, the company said in a blog post on Monday.

"World Tourism day is coming up on September 27, and Search trends show that people have the travel bug. In August, the top queries were related to where and when people can travel 'right now,'" said Pierric Duthoit, Senior Lead, Google Global Tourism Acceleration Centre.

Where do travellers want to go right now?

Heading to the beach and visiting rural areas or small towns are top of the list, particularly for Italians and the Dutch.

"Our data and analyses, available on our 'Think with Google' site, can help tourism businesses identify new trends in consumer preferences," Duthoit said.

For example, as people increasingly search for local and outdoor tourism, businesses can react to these changing needs by doing marketing campaigns that highlight nature destinations, and they can prepare for an uptick in last-minute bookings.

"We're partnering with government ministries, businesses and experts throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa to foster digital skills in the travel sector," Google said.

"While this World Tourism Day marks a uniquely challenging period for tourism, it's also an opportunity to prepare and find new ways to engage with would-be travelers," it added.