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Holidays may be back on Americans’ calendars later this year – especially if vaccines help to suppress the Covid-19 pandemic – but business travel will not recover for some time, according to a forecast by American Hotel & Lodging Association.
Fifty-six percent of Americans say they are likely to travel for leisure in 2021, but 48% say their willingness to travel is linked to vaccination in some way, according to the AHLA “State of the Hotel Industry 2021” report earlier this month.
The findings echo a recent survey by ValuePenguin with 1,200 consumers, which found that 57% have vacations planned this year, with 16% having made reservations shortly after hearing about the new vaccines.
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Among travelers, 34% are comfortable with the idea of staying in a hotel, AHLA concluded. And improved cleaning and hygiene practices are now consumers’ second priority, behind the price, when booking hotels.
In comparison, business travel is not expected to return to 2019 levels until at least 2023 or 2024, according to the AHLA. Business trips will fall 85% by April, compared to 2019, and will only increase very slowly.
Only 29% of frequent business travelers who are still employed said they expect to travel to a conference in the first half of 2021. Another 36% think the second half of the year is more likely, and 20% do not expect to travel until 2022 or later .
Namely, half of all hotel rooms in the United States are likely to remain unoccupied in 2021. The hospitality industry fell nearly 4 million jobs compared to the same period in 2019, and the accommodation sector experienced an unemployment rate of 18 , 9% in December, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“Covid-19 has eliminated 10 years of hotel job growth,” said Chip Rogers, AHLA president and CEO, in a statement. “Despite the challenges faced by the hotel industry, we are resilient.
“Hotels across the country are focused on creating a ready environment for guests when the trip begins to return,” he added.
The AHLA report consolidated the findings of several surveys conducted in December and January. Morning Consult conducted the consumer survey of 2,200 adults from January 7 to 9, and the business traveler survey of 400 adults from January 7 to 12. The consumer safety survey was conducted by Ecolab on December 10 among 556 adults.