As governments across the world loosen
coronavirus restrictions and shift their approach to accepting COVID-19 as a manageable
part of everyday life, the travel industry is growing hopeful that this will be
the year that travel comes roaring back.
اضافة اعلان
Travel agents and
operators have reported a significant increase in bookings in recent weeks for
the spring and summer seasons. The
World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC)which represents the global travel and tourism industry, projects that travel
and tourism in the US will reach pre-pandemic levels in 2022, contributing
nearly $2 trillion to the US economy. The council also anticipates outbound
travel from the US will increase; it projects bookings over the Easter holiday
period to be up by 130 percent over last year.
“Our latest forecast
shows the recovery significantly picking up this year as infection rates
subside and travelers continue benefiting from the protection offered by the
vaccine and boosters,” said Julia Simpson, president and CEO of the WTTC. “As
travel restrictions ease and consumer confidence returns, we expect a welcome
release of pent-up travel and demand.”
While uncertainty
remains over the course of the pandemic and government policies on mask
mandates and testing requirements for travel, the industry is seeing a strong
desire among travelers to take big bucket list trips this year, particularly to
far-flung international destinations and European cities.
“Travel is no longer
just about ‘going somewhere,’” said Christie Hudson, a senior public relations
manager for Expedia. “Coming out of such a long period of constraints and
limitations, 2022 will be the year we wring every bit of richness and meaning
out of our experiences.”
Our latest forecast shows the recovery significantly picking up this year as infection rates subside and travelers continue benefiting from the protection offered by the vaccine and boosters.
Here are some of the
trends you can expect to see.
Air Travel: Fewer restrictions, but for now the
masks stay on
Flying in 2022 looks poised to be much like flying in 2021: reminiscent
of pre-pandemic normal at times, infuriating at others. A primary difference is
that there will be more people on planes and in airports — 150 percent as many
passengers are expected to fly this year as did last year, according to The
International Air Transport Association, which represents nearly 300 airlines.
In terms of where
you can fly, you will have more options than last year. Destinations that have
long been closed to most travelers, including Australia, the Philippines, and
Bali, have started reopening. Airlines have been gradually adding back old
routes and expanding with new ones. In the spring,
American Airlines, for
example, plans to add six new routes from Boston. JetBlue will soon fly direct
from New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to Kansas City and
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, among other locations.
You will still need
to check the latest entry requirements before flying internationally. There are
currently more than 100,000 health and travel restrictions in place, according
to Meghan Benton, a research director at the Migration Policy Institute. Though that’s around the same number as a year ago, she noted,
there has been a move away from quarantines and outright bans of nonessential
visitors toward vaccination and testing requirements. Recently, a growing
number of destinations, have also reconsidered the merits of entry testing.
That flight for a
summer getaway could cost less than it did before the pandemic. Fares are down
18 percent from 2019, according to Airlines for America, which represents seven
major airlines. In January, the cost of international airfares hit an
all-time low since Hopper, a booking app, began tracking them in 2014.
Predicting whether, when and where they will rise is harder than it was before
the pandemic, however, as new variants, evolving health threats, travel
restrictions and pandemic psychology have upended traditional pricing patterns.
Fortunately, most airlines are continuing to waive flight change fees on all
but basic economy flights, said Brett Snyder, the founder of Cranky Flier, an
airline industry site.
When flying in the
US, everyone will need to wear a mask until at least late March. That’s when
the federal mask mandate is set to expire. It has been extended before and
could be extended again.
— HEATHER MURPHY
Lodging: Hotels fight
back, sometimes with robots
This may be the year travelers return to hotels. In a report for the
American Hotel & Lodging Association,
Oxford Economics, an economic
forecasting company, expects total bookings to nearly equal 2019 stays, though
a significant source of revenue — more than roughly $48 billion spent before
the pandemic on food and drink, meeting spaces, and more — will largely remain
missing, given the continued slump in business meetings and group events.
Leisure travelers
have kept the industry afloat and in certain areas — especially mountain and
coastal destinations — vacation business is booming. With record demand, rates
rose at escapist resorts like the Chebeague Island Inn in Maine even in the
traditional offseason months.
Now, corporate
lodging specialists like Level Hotels & Furnished Suites, which has
high-rise apartments in four cities including Seattle, are going after leisure
travelers, touting amenities like fitness centers. And why not? During the
pandemic, many travelers discovered the privacy offered by rental residences.
According to
AirDNA, which analyzes the short-term rental market, vacation home
bookings were up between 30 percent and 60 percent in small cities and resort
destinations compared with 2019, though big-city rentals are down about 25
percent.
Urban hotels hope to
compete for digital nomads by adding stylish extended-stay properties, social
attractions, and better workspaces. Denver’s Catbird hotel offers ergonomic
studios with kitchenettes, plus a rooftop bar and rental gear, including
scooters, ukuleles, and air fryers. The Hoxton chain’s Working From coworking
spaces are attached to its hotels in Chicago and London.
Adapting to lean
times, many hotels have outsourced operations beyond laundry and landscaping,
into food and recreational services. The new app-based service Breeze works
with hotels to provide room service either from on-site restaurants or
neighboring ones.
The pandemic has
also hastened the adoption of automation in hotels — such as keyless check-in,
digital staff communication and room delivery by robots — as a cost-effective
response to the labor shortage.
— ELAINE GLUSAC
Destinations: Cities
are back
This March, Virginia Devlin of Chicago is headed to
New York City with
her daughter, a musical theater student, to celebrate two years’ worth of
missed birthday trips. They will see Broadway shows and visit Chinatown for dim
sum. Tracy Lippes, of Short Hills, New Jersey, is ready to go to Paris. “I
can’t wait to stay in a beautiful hotel, shop, visit museums and eat at great
restaurants,” Lippes said of her March trip. Greg Siskind, an immigration
attorney in Memphis, Tennessee, is thrilled to have an in-person conference in
London in March, and plans to arrive a few days early to enjoy the city with
his adult daughters.
Bookings are spiking for classic European destinations, particularly Paris and London. Clients want to reconnect with special hotels and restaurants and simply bask in the culture
Yes, city travel is
back. After more than two years of avoiding urban centers, travelers are eager
to return to their favorite metropolis and swan dive into the sights, bites and
sounds of a city that is not their own.
“It was a lift to
everyone when the
UK dumped COVID mandates on January 26,” said Henley Vazquez,
a co-founder of FORA, a travel agency in New York City. “Bookings are spiking
for classic European destinations, particularly Paris and London. Clients want
to reconnect with special hotels and restaurants and simply bask in the
culture.”
— AMY TARA KOCH
Resorts: All-inclusive, beyond the beach
A new breed of domestic resort is pioneering an almost all-inclusive
model, taking the guesswork out of where to eat and what to do. Why “almost?”
These properties do not include alcoholic beverages in their nightly rate, and,
perhaps fittingly, boast enviable wine and spirits collections. A major
catalyst for the trend:
pandemic-scarred travelers wary of leaving the grounds
of a resort once they arrive, according to Erina Pindar, the managing director
of SmartFlyer, a luxury travel agency. “The almost all-inclusive is incredibly
popular,” she said, “we expect demand to continue to be strong.”
Hotels.com reports
that searches for this type of resort have increased significantly compared
with the same time frame in 2019. “After the stress of the last few years,”
said Mel Dohmen, a Hotels.com spokesperson, “travelers are looking for stays
where they can be doted on.”
“Our clients see
these resorts as a hassle-free option,” said Jennifer Doncsecz, president of
the travel agency VIP Vacations.
After the stress of the last few years, travelers are looking for stays where they can be doted on.
— SHEILA YASMIN
MARIKAR
Family Travel: Going on the edu-vacation
After two years of quarantines and classroom closures, millions of
children across the country have fallen behind in class. Parents, eager for
lesson plans that can supplement learning, are now seeking experiences with an
educational bent when they travel.
“Previously,
families didn’t ask in advance about what educational activities are available
at the resorts. Now they do,” said Chitra Stern, founder and CEO of the
family-friendly Martinhal resorts in Portugal. Nearly half of her new bookings,
Stern said, now include questions about on-site educational opportunities for
children. Last year, the luxury resorts began partnering with the
United Lisbon International School to offer a two-week educational summer camp for its
younger guests at Martinhal Lisbon. Courses, which are available for children
ages 3 to 17, begin at 440 euros (around $500).
After a pandemic
dip, enrollments are on the rise for family-learning itineraries with tour
operator Road Scholar, which produces educational travel programs for all ages.
Options for children and their caregivers, which start at $699 per adult and
$449 per child, include combining history and geography with spotting grizzlies
in the Canadian Rockies, or learning French while taking a scavenger hunt
through Paris’ Louvre museum.
Noting an uptick
in children road tripping with their parents, the Colorado Tourism Office last
summer launched Schoolcations, a series of free itineraries based on Colorado
road trips and designed for grades K-5.
— DEBRA KAMIN
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