(Bloomberg)—Business travel revenue for the U.S. hotel industry is expected to fall some $20.7 billion short of pre-pandemic levels this year, after an estimated $108 billion decline over 2020 and 2021, according to a study released Tuesday.
The report from American Hotel & Lodging Association and Kalibri Labs projects that hotel business travel revenue will remain 23% down from 2019 by the end of this year. Leisure travel, by contrast, is expected to bounce back to pre-pandemic levels in the coming months.
“This report underscores how tough it will be for many hotels and hotel employees to recover from years of lost revenue,” said Chip Rogers, head of the AHLA.
Nationwide, business travel revenue is projected at $69 billion in 2022, compared with almost $90 billion in 2019.
In five big metro markets -- New York City, San Francisco, San Jose, Washington D.C. and Chicago -- the shortfall is expected to be around 50% or more. In New York’s case, that translates into a loss of $2.5 billion for the local economy.
The AHLA report projects that business travel won’t fully recover until 2024.
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