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Holidays may be back in the U.S. calendar later this year – especially if vaccines help suppress the Covid-19 pandemic – but business travel won’t return for long, according to a forecast by the American Hotel & Lodging Association.
Fifty-six percent of Americans say they are likely to travel for leisure in 2021, but 48 percent say their desire to travel is linked to some form of vaccination, according to the AHLA’s State of the Hotel Industry 2021 report. earlier this month.
The findings echo a recent ValuePenguin survey of 1,200 consumers, which found that 57% have a planned vacation this year, with 16% making reservations right after hearing about the new vaccines.
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Among travelers, 34% feel comfortable with the idea of staying in a hotel, the AHLA found. And improved cleaning and hygiene practices are now priority no. 2 of consumers, behind the price, when booking hotels.
By comparison, business travel is not expected to return to 2019 levels until at least 2023 or 2024, according to the AHLA. Business travel will decrease by 85% by April compared to 2019, and then will only slowly tick up.
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% believe the second half of the year is more likely and 20% do not expect to travel 2022 or later.
In fact, half of all hotel rooms in the US are likely to remain unoccupied in 2021. The hospitality industry has declined by almost 4 million jobs compared to the same period in 2019, and the accommodation sector has registered an unemployment rate of 18.9 % in December, according to the Bureau. labor statistics.
“Covid-19 has eliminated 10 years of hotel job growth,” 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 focusing on creating a prepared environment for guests as the journey begins to return,” he added.
The AHLA report reinforced the findings of several surveys conducted in December and January. Morning Consult conducted the survey for consumers among 2,200 adults from January 7-9, and for business travelers among 400 adults from January 7-12. The Consumer Safety Survey was conducted by Ecolab on December 10 among 556 adults.