Research Briefing | Apr 20, 2021

US | Green shoots of recovery emerge with vaccine rollout

Green shoots of recovery emerge with vaccine rollout - iPad

The next stage of the US travel recovery has commenced. After a challenging fall and winter, signals are turning positive. Travel activity picked up in March, with spring break leisure travel a key contributor, and forward-looking booking activity has quickened, with gains in hotel bookings and air travel. The improvement represents the first substantive gains since the easing of lockdown protocols last year (May/June 2020).

What you will learn:

  • Travel sentiment has been steadily increasing in lockstep with the expansion of the vaccine rollout.
  • Improving health conditions, expanding vaccine distribution, and generous fiscal stimulus together support the trajectory of economic recovery, with our outlook for GDP growth in 2021 recently raised to 7%.
  • Our current outlook is for travel spending in the US to recover to just 20% below 2019 levels this year.
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