Breaking News: The president of Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, Calif. has announced that Disneyland Park will remain closed for the foreseeable future in response to new COVID-19 requirements for the state.
Under the guidelines, larger theme parks (including Universal Studios and others in Southern California) will only be permitted to reopen in counties that reach the least restrictive tier and with capacity limited to 25%.
Now is typically the time when hotel rooms are booked and flights are reserved for the holidays. At the same time, millions of college students who’ve been isolated on campus since September, will migrate back home for an extended holiday break.
“With the number of new COVID cases rising in more than half the states, we can expect further disruption in family holiday travel plans,” said Amir Eylon, President and CEO of Longwoods International.
However, well more than half of American travelers will be staying home for the holidays—Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year’s Eve. Another key takeaway from Longwoods International tracking study this week: Four-in-10 will make it a road trip; less than a quarter plan to fly. Click here for more.
Despite cheaper airfare offers, Kayak data indicates that consumer interest in travel this winter is still drastically decreased. Domestic flight searches are down by 81%, and hotel searches are down 74% compared with the same period in 2019, the platform is reporting.
“Here We Go Again?” asks Destination Analysts noting that infection cases are way up across the nation. In summary, the key findings from this week’s American traveler survey. More details here.
Key findings:
- Increased concerns about contracting coronavirus and its impact on personal finances as well as the national economy
- Upward trend in pessimism about the course the virus will take in the U.S.
- It appears that nearly 25% fewer Americans will be traveling to celebrate the holidays this year due to pandemic-related reasons.
- Those who will travel during the holidays plan to decrease spending by 27.8% on these holiday trips relative to last year.
- Over one-third (34.8%) plan to test themselves for COVID-19 prior to their trips.
On Sunday, Oct. 18, TSA screened 1.03 million travelers in a single day—the highest number of passengers since air travel went into free fall in mid-March. U.S. Transportation Security Administration reported that the number of air travelers bottomed out on April 14 when just over 87,000 passengers passed through TSA checkpoints, compared to 2.2 million on that date in 2019.
U.S. states have adopted a hodgepodge of various quarantine and testing rules applying to travelers, depending upon where you’re traveling to and from. A rundown of the states with travel restrictions as of October 2020 comes from Travel Pulse. The U.S. and Canada have extended the border closure once again, this time until Nov. 21.
Amtrak Flash Sale: Families who don’t want to fly or drive can benefit from “Kids Ride Free” that allows one child age 2-12 to travel free with each paid adult ticket. The flash sale is available to purchase Oct. 20 to 25 only, valid for travel in Coach and Acela Business Class from Oct. 26 to Dec. 17, 2020 (blackout dates are Nov. 24-25 and 28-30).
Last week, Visit California‘s board of directors approved a $65.3 million budget for 2020-21 fiscal year to carry marketing programs through June 30. This represents a commitment beyond the six-month plan put in place in June 2020 while projections were studied.
The plan includes $10.8 million for in-state marketing efforts for the first time since the aftermath of 9/11. President & CEO Visit California Caroline Beteta‘s summary letter to industry partners is found here.
Oct. 15, 2020 was the first day for open travel to Hawaii since Covid-19 turned off the tourism tap. There was a surge of 10,102 passengers arriving at Oahu’s Daniel K. Inouye International Airport. Of these arrivals, 68% were tourists, while the remaining 32% were returning residents. In all, 84% of the passengers cleared quarantine. Some passengers arrived without having had a pre-arrivals test or supplying a qualified exemption, so those individuals were instantly put under 14-day quarantine.
U.S. Travel Association coordinated a targeted social campaign, asking all travel businesses and workers to message their members of Congress with this toolkit graphic copy on Twitter and Facebook at 12 p.m. EST on Monday, October 19. Sen. Cortez Masto (D-NV) and Sen. Cramer (R-ND) introduced the Hospitality and Commerce Job Recovery Act of 2020, a bipartisan bill to provide targeted economic relief for struggling travel-related businesses. U.S. Travel is strongly supportive of this bill.
Visit Spokane has restructured its business model as a community-benefit partnership from Jan. 1, 2021, replacing a membership-based model. The new model eliminates membership dues for restaurants, retail establishments and attractions while simplifying — and in most cases, reducing — dues for hotels and service referral businesses.
Visit Spokane expects to lose about $149,000 in annual revenue as it restructures, but President & CEO Meg Winchester said that they are willing to take the financial hit. “Surrendering revenue from certain categories of membership provides the opportunity to truly serve the mission of Visit Spokane, which is to market the entire region.”
The New York Times has a new travel editor and she’s turning the tables, asking readers what they’d like to see covered and how. Reimagining travel writing in the digital age is everybody’s chance to chime in, as Amy Virshup says she’s interested in sourcing more travel content from local writers. Let’s give Amy something to smile about by replying with our great ideas. 
Lonely Planet subscribers received a notice with their magazine this month.”This is Your Final Issue,” it reads, as the monthly subscribers’ US print edition is shuttered
Amazon announced its HQ2 decision, selecting not one but two locations after a frenzied 14-month process led by the Seattle-based tech powerhouse. Crystal City, Virginia and Long Island City in Queens, New York will be the major corporate outposts, each supporting at least 25,000 jobs. Downtown Nashville, Tennessee gets a consolation prize with 5,000 jobs on the logistics and operations side. About 240 locations sent bids, some on the creative side, such as Tucson’s giant saguaro cactus. “For Austin, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Columbus, Ohio, Dallas, Denver, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Miami, Montgomery County MD, Newark, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Raleigh, Toronto, and Washington, D.C., the year-long battle for Amazon allowed them to promote their cities and opened up new development opportunities,” says CNN. 
Following 105 consecutive months of growth, travel to and within the US is set to level off, says U.S. Travel Association. Due mainly to the leisure sector, US travel grew by +1.6% in the 12 months to September 2018, while business-related travel appeared to plateau. The U.S. Travel Association’s international Leading Travel Index predicts that the market will not expand any further in the next six months when “a perfect storm of factors” is expected to suppress international demand. 
AAA projects that over Thanksgiving, 54.3 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more from home, a 4.8 percent increase—or 2.5 million additional people—over last year. The 2018 holiday weekend will see the highest Thanksgiving travel volume since 2005. INRIX, a global mobility analytics company, predicts travel times in major metros could be four times longer than normal trip times. 
American Airlines has decided to de-install Wi-Fi provider GoGo from at least 400 of its jets. Look for Viasat inflight internet and wireless entertainment to be pre-installed on 100 new Airbus A321neo and Boeing 737 MAX aircraft as well as re-engined A321s and Boeing 737-800s. As of July 2018, American Airlines operates a fleet of 956 aircraft, the world’s largest. 
Euromonitor International predicts China will dethrone France as the world’s number one tourist destination by 2030, based on data collected by the global research company. Tourists from mainland China are also set to overtake Americans to become the biggest group of international travelers. The number of Chinese people taking trips abroad will more than double to 259 million in 2030 from the current 97.5 million. That number will far outweigh the US in second place with 159 million outbound trips and Germany with 138.6 million. 
Booking.com, the flagship brand of Booking Holdings Inc. (also parent to Priceline.com, Agoda.com, Kayak.com, Cheapflights, Rentalcars.com, Momondo, and OpenTable) is pivoting to emphasize the prepaid hotel model that it basically spurned for most of its history. This means better cash flow because consumers pay when they book. 
Fortune magazine has been sold by media conglomerate Meredith to Chatchaval Jiaravanon, a Thai businessman for $150 million cash in its second sale of 2018. Ten months ago, Meredith bought Fortune as part of a $1.8 billion deal that included legacy brands Time, Sports Illustrated, People, and Entertainment Weekly. In September, Time magazine was picked up by Salesforce founder Marc Benioff and his wife for $190 million. “While print is no longer a growth market,” says NBC, “the Association of Magazine Media reported that 27 titles now have a video audience of more than a million per month.” 
Floating a new solution to its homeless problem, San Francisco Travel is among the partners proposing to hire the homeless into paths to jobs in retail, hospitality, and tourism. 
Virgin Voyages is set to disrupt the ubiquitous cruise ship all-you-can-eat buffet. “Scarlet Lady,” launching in 2020 from Miami to the Caribbean, will have 20 all-inclusive restaurants for its 2,770 guests. “No buffet, no main dining room, no forced formal wear, no assigned seating, no assigned dining times,” says Virgin. Sir Richard adds, “We love to create quality products that are fun, fun, fun—and we’re planning to create tables onboard that are strong enough to dance on.” 
Mexico could be the world’s third nation to legalize pot for recreational purposes, following Canada and Uruguay. Paving the way for legalization, that country’s Supreme Court has deemed marijuana prohibition as unconstitutional. Back in the USA, nine states have legalized the drug for recreational uses, but it is still illegal under federal law. Confusion reigns, for example: At LAX, airport police permit travelers with less than an ounce of weed but the TSA will present a major problem if they find the controlled substance. 