Analysis for The Americas

American Express Global Business Travel (GBT) has reported confidence among its clients about travel plans is growing, but the rise of COVID-19 variants is pushing back travel restart dates in some regions. The findings of its Jun-2021 Travel Client Check-In Survey showed very positively that almost all intend to return to travel before the end of the year, but that is more likely now to take place in 4Q 2021.

Corporate travel is expected to pick up significantly in the United States in the second half of 2021, but will still sit well below pre-pandemic levels with total spend in 4Q 2021 projected to reach somewhere between 25% and 35% of 2019 levels and a third of companies remaining below 25% of 2019 spend at the end of the current calendar year.

Across 2021, airline CEOs from all parts of the world have spoken openly at the monthly CAPA Live virtual summit about air travel, the coronavirus crisis and the path to recovery. To say 2020 and 2021 have been a challenge for these professionals is a major understatement and each shares the journey for their respective airlines through one of the biggest crises to hit the world.

There have been some encouraging signs that business travel is bouncing back as part of a general COVID recovery across the United States of America. While a return to the pre-pandemic normal will still deliver significant changes to how, why and when we travel, it is increasingly expected that levels will soon match those seen before coronavirus struck and return to growth.

The world is a very different place today than it was 18 months ago before when the coronavirus pandemic was in its infancy. That is clearly visible in the latest 2021 edition of Brand Finance’s Airlines 50, a report on the most valuable and strongest airline brands which shows the total value of the world’s top 50 most valuable airline brands has declined by a third since last year’s report.

Having previously invested its knowledge in the development of an eVTOL project with mobility company Archer as part of a broader effort to invest in emerging technologies that decarbonise air travel, United Airlines has now revealed an investment in a new electric aircraft start-up. The airline’s CEO, Scott Kirby, says this supports an ambition “to make the blue skies greener”.

Almost a year and a half into the pandemic, the best and worst places to be in the COVID-19 era are increasingly defined by one thing, according to Bloomberg: “normalisation” as what has been the biggest vaccination drive in history of the world slowly enabling countries to relax restrictions and dismantle the border blocks that have drained the life out of the travel and tourism and hospitality sectors.

Improvements in vaccination rates and the introduction of the EU Digital COVID Certificate is providing hope for a tourism rebound in Europe over the summer months with intra-European trips expected to account for over 80% of Europe’s travel in 2021.

Despite an uptick in leisure travel, a new report released by the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) shows that the road to recovery for the hotel industry remains a long one with 21 of the top 25 US hotel markets remaining in a depression or recession. The new data from benchmarking specialist STR, shows urban hotels are still in a “depression” cycle while the overall US hotel industry remains in a “recession.”

New research from travel technology specialist Amadeus has indicated that both business and leisure travellers see digital health passports as a vital tool in opening up travel. However, their views on use of data, brands and technology adoption are varied and that will remain a challenge to tailor the passenger experience and install confidence back into travel.