martin-dm | E + | Getty Images
Holidays may return to American calendars later – especially as vaccines help suppress the Covid-19 pandemic, but business travel will not bounce back for some time, according to a forecast from the 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 somehow linked to vaccination, according to the report “AHLA’s State of the Hotel Industry 2021 “which was announced earlier this month. .
The findings reflect a recent survey by ValuePenguin among 1,200 consumers who found that 57% planned a holiday this year, while 16% booked immediately after hearing about new vaccinations.
More from Personal Finance:
Vaccinations can help move back, but changes are here to stay
Many use stimulus for holidays, but experts ask cautiously
Wealthy travelers eager to return to holiday businesses
Among travelers, 34% are comfortable with the idea of staying in a hotel, AHLA found. Improved cleaning and hygiene practices are now consumers’ number 2 priority, behind the price, when booking hotels.
By comparison, according to AHLA, business travel is not expected to return to 2019 levels until at least 2023 or 2024. Business travel will decline by 85% until April, compared to 2019, and then it will only slowly tap upwards.
Only 29% of regular business travelers still working said they would 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.
To know: half of all US hotel rooms are likely to remain unoccupied by 2021. The hospitality industry declined by almost 4 million jobs compared to the same period in 2019, and the accommodation sector had an unemployment rate of 18.9% in December, according to the Bureau. of Labor Statistics.
“Covid-19 has wiped out ten years of growth of hotel positions,” 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 committed to creating an environment that is ready for guests when travel begins to return,” he added.
The AHLA report consolidated findings from several polls conducted in December and January. Morning Consult conducted the consumer survey among 2,200 adults January 7-9, and the business traveler survey among 400 adults January 7-12. The consumer safety survey was conducted on December 10 among 556 adults by Ecolab.