Our industry needs some good news and as reported in the November 9, 2020 edition of Travel Pulse, it’s wonderful to hear Arne Sorenson, CEO of Marriott International, say “we will be up massively over 2020,” speaking on a panel of CEOs at the online NYU International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference. This group of CEOs agreed that while the hospitality industry has a long way to go, the feeling is that next year will be much better than 2020.
Sorenson said that by the second or third quarter of 2021, there will be “an increasing sense that Covid is getting behind us,” and as that happens there will be a step up in travel – “not instant but pretty quick."
After that, he said, the industry will be able to see how seriously harmed the underlying economy was as demand for travel will depend on the economy. Sorenson said that groups will take longer to come back but, he added, “by the end of 2021, I’m optimistic that a lot of this will be behind us and we will be moving toward recovery. Although we may have an economic crisis rather than a health crisis, we know how to rebuild from that.”