Europe and U.S. Suffer Worsening Travel Performance in September: Skift Recovery Index Insights
Skift Take
It was always going to be hard to maintain the upward trend of travel recovery with coronavirus cases rising rapidly around the world. Europe and North America in particular have shown dropping performances after relatively strong summer months.
The current recovery is like a diet. Or so said Keith Barr, CEO of InterContinental Hotels Group who used this analogy during the recent Skift Global Forum. He said:
“After the holidays when you realize you have to lose weight, the first five pounds come off really easily, and the recovery up to now has been those first five pounds. We suppressed demand because we didn’t allow people to travel, borders were closed, and hotels were closed. Now we’ve opened up, and every pound after this [initial recovery] is going to be hard.”
This is exactly where we find ourselves today, trying to lose that extra pound, but instead we have actually gained a l
