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Holidays may be back on American calendars later this year – especially if vaccines help curb the Covid-19 pandemic – but business travel won’t kick back for a long time, according to a forecast from the American Hotel & Accommodation Association.
Fifty-six percent of Americans say they are likely to travel for recreation in 2021, but 48% say they are willing to travel vaccinated in some way somehow, according to the “AHLA’s State of the Hotel Industry 2021” report published earlier this month.
The findings are a reflection of a recent study by ValuePenguin of 1,200 users which found that 57% had planned a vacation this year, with 16% getting a place right after hearing about it new vaccines.
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Among travelers, 34% are comfortable with the idea of staying in a hotel, AHLA found. And improved cleaning and hygiene practices are now the No. 2 priority for consumers, behind price, when booking hotels.
In contrast, business travel is not expected to return to 2019 levels until at least 2023 or 2024, according to AHLA. Business travel will be down 85% through April, compared to 2019, and then it will only slow up a second.
Only 29% of business travelers still employed said they plan to travel to a conference in the first half of 2021. A further 36% think the second half of the year is more likely, and 20 % not expected to travel until 2022 or later.
Nevertheless, half of U.S. hotel rooms are likely to remain vacant by 2021. The unemployment rate was 18.9% in the accommodation sector, down nearly 4 million jobs compared to the same period. in 2019, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“Covid-19 has reversed 10 years of growth in hotel operations,” Chip Rogers, president and CEO of AHLA, said in a statement. “Despite the challenges facing the hotel industry, we are resilient.
“Hotels across the country are aiming to create an environment ready for guests when travel begins to return,” he said.
The AHLA report confirmed the results of several polls held in December and January. Morning Consult conducted the consumer census among 2,200 adults January 7-9, and the business traveler census among 400 adults January 7-12. The consumer safety census was conducted by Ecolab on December 10 among 556 adults.