The Travel Industry Slump May Continue For Years.
Travel in general is not expected to rebound to pre-pandemic levels until 2023 or 2024. Many businesses will not survive. (The Wall Street Journal)
“After declaring that 2020 was the worst year for tourism on record, with one billion fewer international arrivals, the United Nations World Tourism Organization says prospects for a 2021 rebound have worsened. In October, 79% of experts polled by the agency believed a 2021 rebound was possible. Only 50% said they believed that in January, and some 41% didn’t think travel would reach pre-pandemic levels until 2024 or beyond.
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The travel industry will be one of the last to recover from the pandemic due to the inherent risk embedded in the services provided by the industry. Innovation will be key to the survival of tens of thousands of companies in the industry that must adapt or be discarded as collateral Covid damage. Even the most innovated companies may still succumb to long term industry shifts, like a business travel market that never fully recovers. Zoom meetings could spell the need for a complete industry overhaul.
