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Despite inflation and the fact that the cost of airline flights and hotels has skyrocketed dramatically, this year we are seeing a very strong resurgence in tourism and people are experiencing a hunger for travel like never before.
“If you look at the cost of airfare and hotels, it seems that everyone is trying to recover from the loss of income due to covid,” said Frederic Dimanche, professor and director of the Ted Rogers School of Tourism at Metropolitan University. from Toronto during the videoconference: “Tourism increases after the pandemic, but the trend will continue” organized by Ethnic Media Services.
Professor Dimanche warned that the industry’s growth will not last if this price level continues, and if travelers are not satisfied with the services they get for what they pay for.
He recalled that because of covid, people were trapped in their homes for one to three years in many countries, and this obviously had a criminal impact on travel and tourism.
And he pointed out that something that affects travel and tourism is the shortage of workers.
“Many workers left the industry during the covid years mainly because it was closed, but also because they realized they could get a better job with a fairer income and a better lifestyle with a regular work schedule as opposed to working in the sector. hotel and tourism.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, most of the world closed its doors and tourists stayed at home. The United Nations estimates that the pandemic cost the global tourism sector two trillion dollars in lost revenue in 2021 alone.
But tourism is expected to increase 30% this summer compared to pre-pandemic levels, although the sector will not fully recover until 2027.
Even amid unprecedented levels of street crime and homelessness, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles are among the top five tourist destinations on many travel lists.
Cassandra Costello, Executive Vice President of the San Francisco Travel Association, He said the road to recovery after the pandemic has been a long one for San Francisco, because it was the first city to lock down and one of the last to open.
“But we have good news. We are seeing great gains. Last year, visitor arrivals grew 29%, and that includes 211% increases in international visits.”
He said they have new products to offer tourists like more than 1,000 outdoor restaurants, new terrace bars, new luxury hotels and boutique hotels.
“Overall we expect to reach 24 million visitors this year, and grow by two million international arrivals.”
It anticipated that its top five markets are Mexico, Canada, India, France and the United Kingdom. “60% of visitor spending is from international travelers; and India is a growing emerging market.”
He said what draws visitors to San Francisco are the iconic settings, the rich historical culture, the food, the diversity of neighborhoods that have something for everyone and the small businesses that make those places unique.
“We also have many outdoor and natural experiences to discover from Golden Gate Park to hundreds of neighborhood parks, squares and open spaces”:
James Altucher, founder of the podcast The James Altucher Show and author of the controversial editorial New York City Is Dead Forever (New York Is Dead Forever) written three years ago, when New York was facing many problems, mostly due to pandemic shutdowns and from which it has not recovered.
“Some of the consequences of those problems are going to be around for a long time. New York’s population is down from its peak of 9 million to 8.1 million with many people leaving for Texas and Florida.”
He said that although this phenomenon is something negative for the city and the state of New York, San Francisco, Chicago and other cities, it is a good thing for the United States, because it will allow redistributing and finding talent and opportunities in other places.
But he mentioned city employees are 30-40% underperforming and can’t fill the vacancies, which means cleaning, fire and homeless services are a problem in New York City.
On the other hand, he pointed out that crimes in general are significantly higher than last year while there are 30% empty offices.
He said that tourism has increased since 2021 with 61 million tourists last year, but overall it is low compared to 2019.
“Tourism is affected by crime rates, inflation, taxes; and it really represents 5-6% of the money spent in New York. So it doesn’t affect serious problems like the decline in commercial real estate, and hundreds of thousands leaving New York, and the decline in social services.”