After the pandemic, Americans have started to travel again but have changed their way of moving and choosing destinations.
According to the US Travel Association, travel spending plummeted by nearly $ 500 billion in the United States during Covid-19.
And yet thousands of jobs have been lost, as many as 65% of all jobs lost in 2020 were borne by the travel and entertainment sector.
But now, fortunately, the travel industry in America seems to be recovering.
The industry association has confirmed that travel spending is returning to 2019 levels. Employment in the hotel sector is also showing signs of improvement and is recovering to pre-pandemic levels: almost 70% in July of this year. ‘year, up from 73% in July 2019, according to STR, which provides data and research on the hospitality sector.
After Covid-19, Americans resume traveling
Airline bookings, at least nationally, are also approaching pre-pandemic levels.
Domestic air travel has almost returned to pre-COVID levels while international travel is still moving in slow motion. Americans still seem shy about wanting to embark on long-haul travel.
Travel preferences are also changing. After the Coronavirus, the American wants to travel but under certain conditions: a destination not too far away, strict local security measures against Covid-19 and the possibility of spending a lot of time outdoors.
And the Delta variant has accentuated this new way of vacationing.
But in any case, the desire to travel, after more than a year of lockdown, has returned strongly.People are returning to move but are abandoning hotels and international and urban destinations in favor of the great outdoors, like the Silver Lake near the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. More outdoors, rural areas, private vacation homes.
In any case, early bookings are indicating that Americans intend to continue traveling from now until the end of the year.
“We expect the demand for leisure, especially on weekends, to continue to be strong in the fall and winter,” says Jan Freitag, director of hospitality in the United States for CoStar Group.
After Covid-19, Americans resume traveling
And that’s a big change from the early months of the pandemic, when the industry took a near-fatal blow.
And also in this case the real protagonist of this recovery was the vaccine that made the big difference allowing many agencies to make a boom in bookings for all internal travel.
“Vrbo had its best year ever,” said company spokesperson Melanie Fish. It makes a lot of sense, he says, because private vacation homes in the US were in high demand during the pandemic.
For example, Airbnb has seen an increase in families renting properties for three- and four-day weekends.
And favorite destinations are changing too. Coastal areas have become popular with more people taking advantage of kayaking, rowing or canoeing activities. And even the small towns. For example, 42% of the nights booked by families on Airbnb this summer were in rural destinations, up from 32% two years ago.
“There has been great growth in those areas,” they tell in Airbnb.
2021 saw tremendous growth in visitors to US national parks
The increased emphasis on nature and outdoor activities has indeed been reflected in the popularity of US national parks. The National Park Service recorded a good recovery trend in 2021.
Yellowstone National Park, for example, had 921,844 visitors in August 2021, making it the most visited August on record and surpassing the pre-pandemic total for the same month by 12%.
After Covid-19, trips to the USA resume
In any case, although Coronavirus cases are on the decline and some foreign countries have reopened, US travelers remain cautious and, for now, are moving close to home.
“The Delta variant will continue to curb demand slightly, but American consumers seem willing to” resume traveling, “Freitag told CoStar Group.
According to AAA, more than 50% of American adults plan to take a home vacation before the end of 2022.
Vrbo’s forecasts for this fall and winter are also good, with “higher demand” for homes in December than in previous years.
Demand for vacation bookings started growing as early as July with hottest destinations like the Florida Keys and Naples, Florida being very popular, and ski destinations in the US appear to be an excellent choice as well.
In short, Americans start to travel again and book for other trips and tourism entrepreneurs in general are finally starting to find a smile again.