Staycationers are saving hotels and Airbnb from covid-19
Domestic travellers have revived home-sharing firms. But the big hotel chains think they can fight back
IT HAS been a gloomy year for the travel business. The covid-19 pandemic has wrecked airlines, cruise-ship operators and many other parts of the industry. With the end of the northern hemisphere's summer holidays, things may get gloomier still. The World Travel & Tourism Council, a trade body, this summer increased its forecast of the number of travel jobs that will be lost because of the pandemic worldwide to 197.5m, or around 60% of the total before coronavirus hit.
Even as lockdowns have been relaxed, and some travel has resumed, airlines, cruise lines and tour operators are all still losing money hand over fist. But one sector is proving more resilient: travel accommodation. Hotels and home rentals were not hit as hard by the pandemic, and appear to be bouncing back faster. This is in part thanks to "staycationers", ie, people holidaying in their own countries.
