2022 Event Highlights - Session Seven - Travel Reimagined

Event Highlights

Session Seven: Travel Reimagined

The travel industry was building some post-Covid recovery momentum. High vaccination rates, falling Covid-19 cases and looser quarantine rules made it look like international travel was back. Then, Russia invaded Ukraine. While demand for tourism is high, higher fuel prices, fewer flights and global instability don’t help.

Below are some highlights from the session.

Marriott CEO on Future of Global Lodging

“We had a bit of an interruption in January and February from the Omicron variant,” Anthony Capuano, CEO, Marriott International said, “but in March our global revenue per available room was only down 9%. In April, it was only down 7%.” He added that in the U.S., Marriott was back to 2019 RevPAR levels by April 2022.

Accor’s Bazin on Travel

Sébastien Bazin, Chairman & CEO, Accor agreed that inflation is impacting the cost of labor, energy and food. But even more worrisome is the decline of international business travel. “I really believe 25% of that business is lost forever,” Bazin said.

Trip.com’s Sun on Preparing for the Rebound

“We remain very optimistic about the travel industry in the long run,” said Jane Sun, CEO, Trip.com Group. She mentioned 4S’s noted from Trip.com’s data: smaller (people traveling in smaller groups), safety (people paying more attention to this), short (booking window), and sustainability (eco-friendly hotels and airlines).

From Celestial to Terrestrial: A Grounded Perspective

Luis Gallego, CEO, International Airlines Group said that there’s a strong pent-up demand this summer. “I think at the end of the year we will have the machinery in order,” he said. He added that fuel prices may be lower next year.

According to David Calhoun, President & CEO, The Boeing Company, the biggest constraint currently is labor availability. Calhoun said that a recession or demand going down will not affect all industries equally.

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