As the holiday season wraps up, many travelers hoped to make up for lost time from 2020 by traveling to visit friends and family or escaping the cold to a winter getaway. AAA reported that more than 109 million people—a 34 percent increase from 2020—were planning on traveling 50 miles or more between December 23, 2021, and January 2, 2022, despite rising COVID-19 infection rates of the Omicron variant.
New data as of December 27, 2021, from the MAPP Report from myDigitalOffice echoes the new travel trends.
Christmas occupancy landed just shy of 45 percent, which was up 15 percent from last year. In 2021, business on the books for Christmas surpassed 2020 actuals around three weeks before the holiday weekend.
myDigitalOffice is also tracking actual business on the books for the New Year’s holiday. NYE weekend has continued to climb week over week. One week out from the holiday, hotels showed north of 45 percent occupancy, nearly 70 percent higher than the holiday week last year.
Although there are some lingering concerns around the travel landscape, myDigitalOffice’s data emphasizes that the hospitality industry is resilient, persistent, and determined.
