As we near the end of 2020, the question on seemingly everyone’s mind is:
What’s next? Early this year, the coronavirus pandemic aptly disrupted any fiscal predictions experts had for their respective industries, and hospitality was left in a notably precarious position. As communities around the world came to a collective standstill, the prospect of travel did as well. As noted by the World Economic Forum, for the first time in history, almost 90% of the world’s population now lives in countries with travel restrictions. For months, hotel lobbies and airport terminals have remained uncharacteristically quiet, and travel forecasts have remained dismal. Hoteliers and wanderlust enthusiasts alike found themselves wondering, would travel and hospitality be able to weather this storm?
Fortunately, with each passing month, the recovery of our industry appears imminent on the horizon. Travel and hospitality is ever-resilient, and, in many ways, COVID-19 has acted as a catalyst to technological and operational change that has helped to usher in new industry standards. Perhaps more important, though, is the realization that the desire for travel has not been stifled. The pandemic shook our world but, in its wake, our need to experience the world and broaden our professional connections remains. To get a pulse of current and future travel demand and trends, we surveyed respondents in each age demographic across the United States, Canada, and beyond.
Looking comparatively at pre-pandemic and post-pandemic behaviors, we are able to discern a cautiously optimistic view of the 2021 travel landscape.
Read the full report here!
