This one-day negative test requirement for international visitation to the U.S., which reopened fully less than a month ago, will be watched closely by the U.S. travel sector, wary that the restart of its recovery will now stall.
The Omicron variant hasn't impacted the global hotel industry as far as weekly performance data yet, but government regulations are already unfurling and pointing to a difficult winter ahead.
The second edition of the 2021 Asia Pacific Travel Recovery Report takes the temperature of more than 400 C-suite and senior-level travel executives on upcoming global activity and market recovery, revenue expectations, border control, Covid-19 testing, traveler passports, traveler well-being, and more.
The airline industry is taking a wait-and-see approach to the new Omicron variant. But the new variant is the latest indication that rolling travel restrictions and dips in demand in the wake of endemic Covid-19 outbreaks could be just become another facet of the airline business.
We’re still weeks away from knowing just how much of an impact the Omicron variant will have on the travel industry. But companies can already discern just how much of a role government can have in altering the course of recovery.
From consumer confidence to tourism board revenues potentially taking another big hit, the tourism industry continues to be at risk, especially with a new set of unknowns surrounding Covid's newest variant. It's not too late for travel leaders to demand urgent global vaccine distributions.
Expect for more confusing rules to emerge from European countries, where the Omicron variant has already been detected. Of course, their leaders could have avoided all of this by allowing for a more equal global Covid vaccine distribution.