By Ian Chen
Photo Resource: Unsplah
As the COVID-19 pandemic raged on throughout 2020, travel restrictions, health concerns, and economic instability took a heavy toll on the sector, causing hotel closures, airline bankruptcies, and job losses. However, recent data suggests that the industry is bouncing back. In this article, we will delve into the latest figures and trends in the U.S. tourism market, exploring how the industry is adapting to the post-pandemic landscape and what the future may hold for travelers and businesses alike.
From the line chart of international tourist change percentage vs 2019, we could see that the Americas region is recovering more than the world. The Middle East region has recovered the fastest, followed by Europe. However, the Asia Pacific region lags behind with a negative percentage change of -77% compared to 2019 due to the strict travel restriction policy in this area.
So, what's the exact situation in the U.S.? Let's begin with the U.S. Tourism Employment Statistics. From this bar chat, we can tell that the number of employment in the tourism industry is approaching pre-pandemic levels with 5597590 people and a 20.8% growth rate in 2022. There is only a gap of 517050 people to reach the pre-covid level.
Next, from the perspective of travel agencies businesses, the number of agencies has surpassed the number in 2018. It's worth noting, however, that the number of travel agencies actually decreased in 2019, which was not directly caused by the pandemic. Despite this setback, the industry has rebounded in recent years, with the number of agencies growing once again. When we examine the impact of COVID-19 on the industry, we can see a clear influence on the market size. In 2022, the market size of travel agencies has grown to 71,169.2 million, which is an increase from the pre-pandemic market size of 66984.2 million in 2019. This growth in the market size suggests that the industry is recovering well from the pandemic, as people become more confident in traveling and seek out the services of travel agencies once again.
"I haven't been this busy for a long time. It's pretty cool to see the up and down in this bussiness in Alaska. I am really glad that I and my conpany have suceesfully went through all of this." said Freeman Liu, a tour guide in Fairbanks, Alska.
Finally, let's focus on the bar chart of Tourism Revenue from 2018 to 2022. The total revenue in 2022 has grown to 175.43 billion, which surpassed 169.09 billion in 2019. To dig in, the revenue from cruises is impacted the most by the pandemic. It decreased by 91.2% in 2020. In addition, from this chart, we can also tell that the revenue from hotels is the key to helping the tourism revenue win over the pre-covid level.
In conclusion, the tourism industry in the U.S. has recovered from the pandemic. However, this recovery mainly comes from domestic travel, as we can see that international visitors have not reached the pre-covid level. Fortunately, the industry takes the future in a positive way because of the reopening of outbound traffic from China.
"So while domestic leisure has certainly led the way back in terms of recovery in the sector, there is no question that significantly higher spend and length of stay is why overseas visitors are so critical for gateway destinations like L.A. -- and none more so than China" said Adam Burke, CEO of the Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board.
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