PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The semi-annual “State of Travel and Hospitality” report out now has some surprising findings about how travelers are changing their behavior, and what they expect of the companies that they travel with, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and recent inflation. The travel landscape is shifting, says a travel and hospitality analyst — and we might as well get used to it now.
Inflation and recession fears have dampened the positive energy and momentum the travel and hospitality industries were seeing at the start of the year, says Lindsey Roeschke at Morning Consult, the global data intelligence company behind the report.
Listen to Lindsey Roeschke on 'KYW Newsradio In Depth'
"I think, earlier in 2022, there was a lot of optimism about what was going to happen in the travel space throughout the year, because COVID concerns were lessening,” Roeschke said. “At the beginning of the year, there was a great hope that the industry was going to really come roaring back. But now, because of inflation concerns, and concerns about a potential coming recession, we're starting to see that folks are really tightening the purse strings a little bit.”
She said early summer was a busy travel season, but we're still not seeing travel at pre-pandemic levels.
“And I anticipate that we're probably going to see, you know, those lower numbers for a while longer because of the cost concerns."
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Travelers might see more airline delays and cancellations through Labor Day weekend, rooted in staffing issues, she said.
"Pilot shortages, air traffic controller shortages, support staff shortages, customer service shortages — all those sorts of things are all kind of playing into these issues,” Roeschke said.
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“One of the things that we're seeing airlines doing is trying to get ahead of that by actually preemptively canceling flights further in advance. That's not what we want to hear as travelers, because it means that there are less flights available, it means that the flights that are available might be more expensive. But it is better than the alternative, which is showing up at the airport and finding out your flight is canceled.”
In response, she said, customers are beginning to plan trips farther in advance — but they are waiting longer to pull the trigger on hotel bookings and the like.
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"One of the reasons people are booking air travel further in advance is because they're more concerned about locking those prices in, and they're less concerned about their flight being canceled because of COVID,” she said. “However, with accommodation booking windows, it seems like people are kind of waiting a little bit longer, because they feel like they have some more flexibility to book later in the game.”
The bottom line, she says, is travelers should get used to a new normal, because the data does not suggest the travel and hospitality industries will return to a pre-pandemic normal any time soon — if ever.
"I think I've seen some attempts at folks trying to say, hey, we'll be back to normal, but I don't think anybody in their heart of hearts really believes that,” Roeschke said. “I mean, we had an extended period of just no travel whatsoever. And I think, in that time, people re-evaluated what was important to them. And so, I think there's no turning back.”
Listen to the full interview with Lindsey Roeschke