经过一年多无休止的Zoom会议之后,我们有望在今年秋天看到商务旅行行业的复苏,至少这是一些旅游公司的期待,前提是复苏的过程不会因为德尔塔变种病毒出现变数。
旅游网站Kayak和民意调查公司YouGov最近的一项调查显示,超过一半的美国人认为,随着新冠疫苗的广泛接种,商务旅行行业已经开始复苏,或者将在2021年年底之前反弹。虽然今年上半年美国对秋季周中旅行的在线搜索量与2019年相比依旧低20%,但比2020年增加了165%。
今年夏天,个人旅行几乎恢复到了新冠疫情之前的水平,人们纷纷开始全家度假,入住爱彼迎(Airbnb)的民宿,或者参观国家公园和游乐园。在7月4日美国国庆节当天,尽管酒店、汽车租赁和汽油的价格均有所上涨,但休闲旅游和自驾游数量依旧达到了最高峰。
然而,商务旅行的反弹速度较慢。航空公司尚未优化商务航班的时刻表,而且夏季一直都是商务旅行的淡季。许多公司准备到今年秋季才要求员工回到办公室办公,这意味着有时候人们没有地方会面,只能选择咖啡厅或者餐厅。美国联合航空(United Airlines)的首席执行官郭斯杰(Scott Kirby)表示,该公司的商务出行与之前相比依旧减少了60%。但他在最近接受哥伦比亚广播公司(CBS)采访时预测该领域即将回暖。他说:“我们预计到9月,随着大部分学校复课,许多人重回办公室,商务出行需求会上涨。我们认为商务旅行要到2023年才能够完全恢复,但我们正在朝着正确的方向迈进。”
据行业组织美国航空协会(Airlines for America)和美国旅游协会(U.S. Travel Association)统计,在新冠疫情之前,2019年,航空公司30%的行程来自商务旅行,商务旅行占到航空公司3,300亿美元收入的大约一半。美国航空(American Airlines)和美国联合航空最近表示商务旅行需求增加,并且有多个大型会议和活动将采取现场模式举办,包括计划在2022年春季于奥斯汀召开的SXSW科技大会。美国人口普查局(U.S. Census Bureau)5月的普查数据也显示,35%的小企业主计划列出未来六个月的出行开支,比4月(31.5%)和2月中旬(26.5%)相比有所增加。
对有些人而言,Zoom疲劳症已经转变为彻底的Zoom厌倦症。Kayak表示,至少有25%的美国商务旅行人士希望可以进行商务旅行,28%希望在年底之前进行商务旅行。该公司预计商务出行会逐步增加,因此在7月21日正式发布了一款商务旅行工具Kayak for Business。
Kayak的首席执行官史蒂夫·哈夫纳表示,公司为开发这款工具耗费了数年,但新冠疫情导致公司被迫将其搁置。他希望随着更多人接种新冠疫苗,越来越多的人能够恢复商务旅行。他说:“我并不认为Kayak是唯一一家有这种想法的公司。”
Sondhelm Partners公司的首席执行官丹·桑德霍尔姆称:“我一直渴望出差。”Sondhelm Partners是一家位于弗吉尼亚州亚历山德里亚市的财富管理咨询公司。桑德霍尔姆计划未来两个月前往纽约、新泽西、芝加哥和洛杉矶拜访潜在客户。他说:“与你的生意伙伴面对面沟通是有好处的。”
当然,桑德霍尔姆也在密切关注最近大幅增加的确诊病例,这也是7月19日美国股市暴跌的元凶。7月19日,新冠肺炎确诊病例增加的消息传出后,航空股暴跌,降至五个月最低,但大部分股票在7月20日结束之前已经收复失地。
桑德霍尔姆称,他最终是否会出行可能取决于妻子的身体状况:“我们拭目以待。”(财富中文网)
翻译:刘进龙
审校:汪皓
经过一年多无休止的Zoom会议之后,我们有望在今年秋天看到商务旅行行业的复苏,至少这是一些旅游公司的期待,前提是复苏的过程不会因为德尔塔变种病毒出现变数。
旅游网站Kayak和民意调查公司YouGov最近的一项调查显示,超过一半的美国人认为,随着新冠疫苗的广泛接种,商务旅行行业已经开始复苏,或者将在2021年年底之前反弹。虽然今年上半年美国对秋季周中旅行的在线搜索量与2019年相比依旧低20%,但比2020年增加了165%。
今年夏天,个人旅行几乎恢复到了新冠疫情之前的水平,人们纷纷开始全家度假,入住爱彼迎(Airbnb)的民宿,或者参观国家公园和游乐园。在7月4日美国国庆节当天,尽管酒店、汽车租赁和汽油的价格均有所上涨,但休闲旅游和自驾游数量依旧达到了最高峰。
然而,商务旅行的反弹速度较慢。航空公司尚未优化商务航班的时刻表,而且夏季一直都是商务旅行的淡季。许多公司准备到今年秋季才要求员工回到办公室办公,这意味着有时候人们没有地方会面,只能选择咖啡厅或者餐厅。美国联合航空(United Airlines)的首席执行官郭斯杰(Scott Kirby)表示,该公司的商务出行与之前相比依旧减少了60%。但他在最近接受哥伦比亚广播公司(CBS)采访时预测该领域即将回暖。他说:“我们预计到9月,随着大部分学校复课,许多人重回办公室,商务出行需求会上涨。我们认为商务旅行要到2023年才能够完全恢复,但我们正在朝着正确的方向迈进。”
据行业组织美国航空协会(Airlines for America)和美国旅游协会(U.S. Travel Association)统计,在新冠疫情之前,2019年,航空公司30%的行程来自商务旅行,商务旅行占到航空公司3,300亿美元收入的大约一半。美国航空(American Airlines)和美国联合航空最近表示商务旅行需求增加,并且有多个大型会议和活动将采取现场模式举办,包括计划在2022年春季于奥斯汀召开的SXSW科技大会。美国人口普查局(U.S. Census Bureau)5月的普查数据也显示,35%的小企业主计划列出未来六个月的出行开支,比4月(31.5%)和2月中旬(26.5%)相比有所增加。
对有些人而言,Zoom疲劳症已经转变为彻底的Zoom厌倦症。Kayak表示,至少有25%的美国商务旅行人士希望可以进行商务旅行,28%希望在年底之前进行商务旅行。该公司预计商务出行会逐步增加,因此在7月21日正式发布了一款商务旅行工具Kayak for Business。
Kayak的首席执行官史蒂夫·哈夫纳表示,公司为开发这款工具耗费了数年,但新冠疫情导致公司被迫将其搁置。他希望随着更多人接种新冠疫苗,越来越多的人能够恢复商务旅行。他说:“我并不认为Kayak是唯一一家有这种想法的公司。”
Sondhelm Partners公司的首席执行官丹·桑德霍尔姆称:“我一直渴望出差。”Sondhelm Partners是一家位于弗吉尼亚州亚历山德里亚市的财富管理咨询公司。桑德霍尔姆计划未来两个月前往纽约、新泽西、芝加哥和洛杉矶拜访潜在客户。他说:“与你的生意伙伴面对面沟通是有好处的。”
当然,桑德霍尔姆也在密切关注最近大幅增加的确诊病例,这也是7月19日美国股市暴跌的元凶。7月19日,新冠肺炎确诊病例增加的消息传出后,航空股暴跌,降至五个月最低,但大部分股票在7月20日结束之前已经收复失地。
桑德霍尔姆称,他最终是否会出行可能取决于妻子的身体状况:“我们拭目以待。”(财富中文网)
翻译:刘进龙
审校:汪皓
After more than a year of endless Zoom meetings, we could be nearing a resurgence of business travel this fall—or at least that’s what some travel companies are banking on, provided the Delta variant doesn’t get in the way.
More than half of Americans think business travel is back or will be back by the end of 2021, as vaccines become more widely available, according to a new survey by travel site Kayak and public opinion firm YouGov. And while online searches during the first half of the year for midweek travel in the U.S. this fall are still down 20% compared with 2019, they are up 165% compared with 2020.
Personal travel bounded back this summer, nearly reaching pre-pandemic levels, as people hit the road on family vacations, staying at Airbnbs and visiting national parks and amusement parks. Leisure travel peaked over the July Fourth holiday, as did car travel, even amid rising hotel, car rental, and gas prices.
Business travel, however, has been slower to return. Airlines have yet to optimize travel schedules for business flights, and summertime is historically slow for business travel. Many companies, too, still aren’t prepared to bring people back to the office until fall—meaning sometimes there’s no place to meet but a coffee shop or restaurant. Business travel is still off by 60% at United Airlines, according to its CEO, Scott Kirby. But in a recent interview with CBS, he predicted an upswing. “We expect business demand is going to really pick up in September, as most of the schools are back and a lot of people are back in offices,” he said. “We don’t think it will recover fully until 2023, but we’re certainly headed in the right direction.”
Pre-COVID, business travel accounted for 30% of airline trips and around half of the $330 billion in airline revenues in 2019, according to trade group Airlines for America and the U.S. Travel Association. American Airlines and United Airlines recently reported an uptick in interest in business travel, and a number of big conferences and events are scheduled to return to being in person, including the SXSW tech conference in Austin, slated for the spring of 2022. A May survey by the U.S. Census Bureau also showed that 35% of small-business owners plan to have travel expenses in the next six months, an uptick from April (31.5%) and mid-February (26.5%).
For some, Zoom fatigue has become full-on Zoom exhaustion. At least 25% of American business travelers say they want a job where they can travel for work, and 28% of them say they would like to go on a business trip by year-end, according to Kayak, which July 21 officially launched a new tool for business travel called Kayak for Business, in anticipation of more such trips.
Kayak spent years building the business tool, but COVID put things on ice, said Kayak CEO Steve Hafner. He hopes as more people get vaccinated, more people will get back to business travel. “I don’t think we at Kayak are the only ones feeling that sentiment,” he said.
“I’ve been itching to travel,” said Dan Sondhelm, CEO of Sondhelm Partners, a wealth management consulting firm based in Alexandria, Va. He intends to take trips to New York, New Jersey, Chicago, and Los Angeles in the next two months to meet with prospective clients. “There is something to be said for rubbing shoulders with the folks you do business with,” he noted.
Still, Sondhelm has his eye on the recent surge in new COVID cases, which contributed to July 19’s stock market selloff. Airline stocks tumbled on July 19 upon news of the rising cases, dropping to a five-month low, though most of them recovered their losses by end of day July 20.
Sondhelm said his wife’s comfort level may ultimately determine whether he takes those trips: “We will see.”