Clayton Reid, CEO of MMGY, recently penned an opinion piece discussing the snap back to leisure travel the U.S. is currently seeing and how the current market conditions have caught many travel brand by surprise. “You can’t rely entirely on the traditional signals to either validate recovery or inform sales and marketing plans,” explained Reid.

Here are some short and long-term conditions Reid believes the industry should be considering.

• Destination domestic leisure demand will normalize in 2022. High rates have allowed operators to boost revenue without fully available capacities, but labor shortages, crowded destinations and less-than-perfect experiences risk compromising a brand’s loyal customers.
• A new kind of short-haul leisure demand will emerge. Nearly six in ten travelers participated in “bleisure” activities pre-pandemic, and this behavior is expected to significantly increase as employers concede to shorter in-office weeks and work from home schedules.
• International travel is coming and will change the market. By December, an influx of European, Asian and Latin American travelers will again help support air and hotel volumes in major global gateways, keeping rates high and replacing receding American demand as it normalizes.
• The meeting and convention market is changing less than you think. Bookings for 2022 and 2023 are robust. Some meetings will be replaced with virtual components over several years, but these conditions will also spark new types of in-person meetings.
• The principles of marketing continue to change in foundational ways. Privacy and data advances are creating a new paradigm for understanding and connecting to travelers, while the quick deployment of content and storytelling is attracting consumers to brands as a complement to broader marketing campaigns.

Read more conditions worth considering here. (Phocus Wire, 07.20.21)

MMGY isn’t the only one who predicted a strong summer travel surge in the U.S.. But what’s right for one attraction or destination may not be right for the next. Don’t waste time and money—get the answers you need today. Contact us today at info@h2rmarketresearch.com or online here.

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