Prior to March 2020, the tourism industry was booming worldwide. Hotels benefited from year-on-year growth in tourism and the continuous onslaught of guests during peak holiday seasons. As hotel business thrived, no one gave much thought to where their revenue was coming from, considered long-term investments, or clearly understood the implications to profitability.
Despite optimistic signals of pent-up travel demand, hotels are still at the mercy of ongoing travel restrictions and regulations. As a result, many hotels remain in complete shutdown. Furthermore, the expectation for financial recovery to 2019 levels is increasingly far-off, with more hotels now expecting this to occur in 2023.
By Pedro Colaco, CEO at GuestCentric Systems
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It s been just over a year since Covid-19 became a global pandemic in April 2021. Hotels are finally starting to see some signs of life reflected in hotel bookings. According to market research by Guestcentric and Great Hotels of the World, published in the 13th edition of the Hotelier PULSE Report, booked nights in March 2021 outgrew bookings in March 2020 by 14%.
However, ongoing hurdles with vaccination distribution in Europe clearly have an impact on the industry sentiment. The April 2021 edition of the Hotelier PULSE Report shows more hotels are in a complete shutdown, combined with the increasing expectation that international travel will not resume in 2021.