Positive figures regarding the number of Americans passing through TSA travel gates and the high hotel occupancy rates that have been recorded recently all point towards a busy winter of travel coming up in the US and beyond. Whilst travel numbers have yet to reach the figures posted in 2019 – before the pandemic – they have remained consistently high in the past few weeks, breaking 2 million passengers on several occasions.
From higher rates of vaccination and a decline in the number of positive cases, to getting the green light to travel from the CDC, there are several reasons why travel is looking healthy at the moment. Here’s a look at the facts and figures regarding travel and hotel occupancy rates, why they are so high and why they could be set to get even higher in the coming weeks.
The darkest days of the pandemic, in 2020, saw many in the travel industry worrying – with good reason. Daily travel numbers only topped 1 million once after March, with many forced to stay at home as the travel landscape changed dramatically. However, things are looking up. Travel numbers have not only risen, but they have stayed high – showing long term confidence in how Covid-19 is being managed in the US as well as a desire to be able to travel once more.
Travel figures in the US have regularly topped 2 million daily travelers on weekends for the past few months, with the past few days seeing 2021’s figures at around 80% of the figures reported on the same days in 2019. Whilst there is still room for improvement, the fact that the figures have stayed high suggests that they could be set to grow even higher, particularly with key holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years on the horizon.
