Bing Guan / Bloomberg via Getty Images fileThe hotel industry has rebounded from the depths of the Covid-19 pandemic, but data and industry experts say it’s still missing a vital part of its business: corporate travelers.
But experts say the gains have been powered largely by vacationers and leisure travel. Business travel remains almost entirely absent, a trend that has experts concerned heading into winter. “Business travelers use hotels, go to restaurants and retail, engage in sports entertainment and get the economic systems firing on all cylinders,” Lou Carrier, president of the Distinctive Hospitality Group, said. “You may have a leisure traveler engine firing on two or three cylinders, but a business traveler engine is firing on eight.”Travel finally began to return in spring 2021, but this was almost entirely driven by the leisure segment.
Leisure travel remained steady into the summer as more Americans received Covid vaccinations and found ways to spend the money they saved during the pandemic.
I think it will be easier for future hotels to match people with the natural environment if they shift from accommodation-type to residential-type. Thank you
The shutdown showed the majority of these meetings could be done over zoom
Umm maybe lower the price?
Why don't you use the vast site to start a 'detached rental house' and a supermarket with eco-friendly materials?
Because we don't have to travel abroad. Resort hotels are healing people and destroying the natural environment. Amen
Who are these so-called 'experts?' Business travel is never coming back, and rightly so. It's no longer needed in a vast majority of cases. It's time to spend that money on more worthy endeavors that benefit society (global, not just American) as a whole.