Is It Right to Promote Holiday Travel Amid a Second Covid Surge?
Photo Caption: Coastal Mississippi, a primarily drive market, anticipates a solid Thanksgiving visitor turnout next week. Coastal Mississippi
Skift Take
There’s no telling how many of the projected 50 million Americans traveling for Thanksgiving will ditch their plans as the CDC and states sound the alarm. In the travel industry, the messages go from “stay home, buy local” to “book now for 2021” or “if you’re visiting, be safe,” as destinations and companies continue to balance their need for revenue against public health.
The data is clear. More than half of America chooses to travel for Thanksgiving, by car or by plane, in spite of a second Covid wave raging coast-to-coast, with a record near 80,000 thousand people hospitalized. That is according to Tripadvisor’s 2020 Thanksgiving Travel Index.
Airlines are also anticipating their first significant surge in performance since March, though a 39 percent decrease from last year. AAA said it expects fewer Americans to travel for Thanksgiving, but “fewer” is a relative term when it means 50 million instead of the 55 million who traveled in November 2019.
Then came the "strong recommendation" from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) on Thursday, a week before Thanksgiving, telling Americans to stay home and causing airlines to see an increase in cancellations that had begun days prior as a result of mounting state restrictions. The U.S. Travel Association released an update to its health and safety guidance a couple of hours a
