By Kari Williams
From the November/December 2023 Issue
The tourism and hospitality industries could see a Renaissance Era thanks to the economic boost Taylor Swift and Beyoncé are reportedly giving at tour stops across the nation.
Umar Riaz, of EY Americas Real Estate, said in a March 2023 report that despite recession concerns, the hospitality industry is expected to defy expectations. Citing a strong urge to travel as COVID-19 pandemic restrictions have eased and an increase in company travel budgets, Riaz is optimistic.
“Consumer surveys show that most people are planning at least one leisure trip over the next six months,” he said. “Rising inflation might mean that consumers will make different choices when they travel, but demand still remains strong.”
Similarly, a Hospitality Insights trends report from EHL Insights found there’s an interest in travel, but household budgets could influence whether or not vacations take place. Current trends include “bleisure” traveling (a combination of business and leisure); holistic hospitality, health, and well-being; and deal seekers.
The International Trade Association’s National Travel and Tourism Office reported in 2020 that the decline of travel and tourism to and within the U.S. “accounted for 56% of the decline in U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), and travel exports dropped 65% in 2020 when compared to 2019, or pre-pandemic levels.” But following the ease of COVID-19-related travel restrictions, the country saw monthly overseas arrivals increase “from roughly 775,000 in October 2021 to more than two million in April 2022.”
“As a result, international travel to the United States has generated a trade surplus in each of the past five months indicating a positive trend toward recovery even as international travel remains below pre-pandemic levels,” the report stated.
Last June, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo released the 2022 National Travel and Tourism Strategy, which aims to increase American jobs “by attracting and welcoming 90 million international visitors,” according to the Commerce Department.
Plus, the U.S. economy is projected to add more than eight million jobs between 2021 and 2031—with nearly two million of those positions in the leisure and hospitality sector, according to an October 2022 Bureau of Labor Statistics report in “The Economic Daily.”
“This rapid projected growth—the fastest of any sector, at an annual rate of 1.3%—results from the recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic,” the report stated.
The National Travel and Tourism Office reported that in 2019, the travel and tourism industry brought in nearly $1.9 trillion and supported more than nine million U.S. jobs.
