People are starting to plan about their future trip “quite quickly,” he told CNN’s Julia Chatterley earlier this week. Reservations for some parts of the United States this summer are “completely packed up” on the travel website, and he expects Europe to follow suit as the number of vaccines rises. Because of the lack of business travel and the prolonged closing of numerous international borders, “normalcy” for the travel industry is still a long way off. Even individuals who have been vaccinated are nevertheless advised not to travel by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Leisure travelers, on the other hand, have boosted demand for US airlines, Airbnb, and hotel chains. Here are some telltale symptoms of a trip turnaround: Continue reading Air travel is on the rise. Leisure travelers have been in high demand for seats, according to executives from American Airlines (AAL), United (UAL), Delta (DAL), and JetBlue (JBLU). During the customary spring vacation time and into the summer, bookings have been exceptionally strong. About advanced ticket sales, American Airlines CEO Doug Parker said, “The last three weeks have been the best three weeks since the epidemic began.” “In terms of total bookings, we’re moving pretty close to 2019 levels.” JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes agreed, adding there is “a lot of pent-up demand.” “As people get vaccinated, they’re jumping on planes to see people they haven’t seen in a year,” he continued. Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said in a memo to staff on Thursday that the company has “seen significant progress in recent weeks,” and that it could break even shortly. “This gives me hope that demand is on the rise again,” he said. The number of TSA agents is increasing. Data from the Transportation Security Administration reflects this desire. For the first time since the pandemic began, air travel is up from a year ago. According to the TSA, over 1.4 million travelers passed through US airport security checkpoints on Thursday, up from 780,000 on the same day last year. In the last seven days, more than 8.8 million individuals have travelled, and more than 1 million people have been screened each of the last eight days, the longest stretch of the pandemic. Even still, Thursday’s figures are still extremely low, as they represent around 60% of traffic on the same day in pre-pandemic 2019. The most popular destinations on Airbnb Airbnb is fueled by bookings for “warm weather locales, little beach towns, and access to state and national parks.” The home-sharing company claimed this week that “pent-up holiday ambitions” are driving increasing bookings. Southern Maine, the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and Montana are among the most-searched cities and regions on Airbnb. When compared to the same travel period a year earlier, the number of people looking for properties with outdoor spaces increased by 35 times. Deals that are significant Extended Stay America (STAY) announced this week that it will be bought out for $6 billion. It’s the latest sign of hope for the ailing hotel industry, which had a miserable 2020 to put it mildly. The low-cost hotel chain has roughly 650 locations across the United States. Because it was appealing to traveling medical experts and other key workers who had to work during the pandemic, the company did better than its competitors last year. The company will be split evenly between Blackstone and Starwood Capital, with the owners betting that the chain would continue to grow. According to The Wall Street Journal, Starwood expects people in training programs, divorced couples, and people who are moving to stay at the hotel in the future. Disneyland is reopening after a long hiatus. Disneyland and its sibling theme park California Adventure said this week that they will reopen on April 30 with limited capacity. Anaheim, California is home to Disneyland, Disney’s main theme park. Because of the pandemic, it has been shuttered for more than a year. The reopening, according to Robert Niles, editor of ThemeParkInsider.com, “is the ultimate indicator that things are coming back to normal for the Disney organization.” “Even if the other parks were operational, having Walt Disney’s initial park closed served as a reminder that something was wrong.” The parks are now exclusively open to California residents due to state health regulations, according to the firm. Mandatory masks for people over the age of two, social separation, and the usage of a new ticketing system to assist control capacity are among the safety precautions. — CNN Business has a special report on This paper was co-authored by Chris Isidore and Frank Pallotta. Continue reading
