Abstract: Purpose : To determine the influence of COVID-19 and the first 2020 lockdown on Flemish people’s initial travel behaviour perceptions, a hypothetical scenario was posed to respondents where they were asked to keep in mind a situation where they might be able to travel again during the summer of 2020 (July/August). This research had two main aims: i) the pre-lockdown travel plans for summer 2020 were determined; ii) the extent to which respondents would adapt their travel behaviour if they were hypothetically allowed to travel again by summer 2020. Methods : This exploratory research was done by means of an online quantitative questionnaire of which 1803(n) complete responses were obtained through convenience and snowball sampling. Results : The results revealed that respondents did have initial travel plans for the 2020 summer (July/August) period, but that they adjusted their planning to mostly travelling nationally/locally, potentially benefitting the local tourism industry. These findings (i) ... : SUBMITTED: FEB 2021, REVISION SUBMITTED: MAY 2021, ACCEPTED: JUN. 2021, REFEREED ANONYMOUSLY, PUBLISHED ONLINE: 18 OCT 2021 ...