The “Great Return” Is in Motion; Workers, Students, Companies and Travelers Re-Embrace the City Center

JLL | May 12, 2022

Office occupancy and urban hotel demand are both steadily increasing CHICAGO, May 12, 2022 – While at-home work and a shift away from city centers was widely embraced during the throes of the pandemic, recent data points suggest the “Great Return” is in motion. City centers have historically served as the cultural and commercial heart of cities and as William Shakespeare once said, “What is the city but the people?” This statement resonates now more than ever as cities are being reawakened and re-embraced by the workers, students and companies that call them home. As of April, many big tech and financial corporations have called ...

The 5 Key Trends for North American Travelers

Erica Eyring | May 11, 2022

By Erica Eyring The new quarterly Travel Trend Report from Expedia Group Media Solutions highlights how 2022 is shaping up to be a year of rebuilding and renewal. Here we summarize the key findings about trends and behavior of North American travel shoppers during the first quarter of the year. 1. Traveler confidence surged as restrictions lifted When reviewing the data for the first quarter of 2022, we see that North American travelers weren’t put off by the pandemic setbacks of January. In fact, search volume in the region was up 30%, which was higher than the global quarter-over-quarter increase. Looking at the year-over-...

Lack of Russian Tourists Due to the Russia-Ukraine Conflict Will Leave a Void in This Summer’s European Travel Market

GlobalData | May 10, 2022

With the EU banning Russian aircraft from operating in its airspace due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, these nations are likely to receive very few Russian tourists this summer says GlobalData. According to the leading data and analytics company, Russia was the fifth ranked country globally in terms of international departures in 2021, with 13.7 million. According to GlobalData, in 2021, almost 20% of all outbound and domestic trips in Russia occurred in the months of June and July. Additionally, travelers from Russia spent a total of $22.5 billion in 2021, which put it in the top 10 source markets globally for total outbound tourist e...

STR: Australian Grand Prix Drove Melbourne Hotel Rates to Record High in April

STR | May 10, 2022

LONDON—Lifted by the Australian Grand Prix, Melbourne’s hotel industry reported its highest monthly room rates on record, according to preliminary April 2022 data from STR. Occupancy: 65.1% Average daily rate (ADR): AUD238.30 Revenue per available room (RevPAR): AUD155.14 The market’s occupancy level was its highest since February 2020, while RevPAR was the highest since November 2019. When looking at daily data, the night prior to race day (9 April) showed the highest performance levels for the month: occupancy (89.2%), ADR (AUD387.51) and RevPAR (AUD345.68). The Grand Prix weekend (8-10 April) was the only time durin...

Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index Rose 0.7% in April

STR | May 9, 2022

HENDERSONVILLE, Tennessee, and MILWAUKEE—The Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index rose 0.7% in April to a level of 5,925. Year to date through the first four months of 2022, the stock index increased 3.1%. “Hotel stocks increased modestly in April but were significant relative outperformers as the broader travel recovery accelerated, particularly domestically,” said Michael Bellisario, senior hotel research analyst and director at Baird. “Underlying hotel fundamentals continued their rebound in April, especially in some of the harder-hit urban markets, and better-than-expected intra-quarter updates from companies boosted investo...

STR: London Hotels Saw Highest Occupancy of the Pandemic-Era in April

STR | May 9, 2022

LONDON—London’s hotel industry reported its highest monthly occupancy level since February 2020, according to preliminary April 2022 data from STR. Occupancy: 72.0% Average daily rate (ADR): GBP151.42 Revenue per available room (RevPAR): GBP108.98 While occupancy increased month over month, it was down roughly 11% from the pre-pandemic comparable. The absolute ADR level was slightly lower than the previous month but up more than 6% from April 2019. London’s daily occupancy stayed above 60% with the exception of Monday, 18 April (50.2%). The highest occupancy level was reported on Tuesday, 26 April (83.7%), and overall ...

STR: U.S. Hotel Results for Week Ending 30 April

STR | May 5, 2022

HENDERSONVILLE, Tennessee—U.S. hotel occupancy improved from the previous week, while average daily rate (ADR) decreased slightly, according to STR‘s latest data through 30 April. 24-30 April 2022 (percentage change from comparable week in 2019*): Occupancy: 66.6% (-3.4%) Average daily rate (ADR): US$146.67 (+10.2%) Revenue per available room (RevPAR): US$97.72 (+6.4%) Among the Top 25 Markets, Phoenix saw the highest occupancy increase over 2019 (+5.5% to 75.9%). Minneapolis experienced the largest occupancy decrease from 2019 (-23.8% to 55.1%). The steepest RevPAR deficits were in Boston (-30.0% to US$12...

International Visitors Spent $10.1 Billion in March 2022 Marking 90% Increase Compared to March 2021

National Travel and Tourism Office | May 5, 2022

Data recently released by the National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) show that in March 2022: International visitors spent $10.1 billion on travel to, and tourism-related activities within, the United States, an increase of 90 percent compared to March 2021. Americans spent $9.2 billion traveling abroad, yielding a balance of trade surplus of $894 million for the month—the fifth consecutive month during which the United States enjoyed a balance of trade surplus for travel and tourism. The increase in ‘Travel Spending’ accounted for the overwhelming majority (75%) of the year-over-year increase in U.S. travel exports in M...