Vaccine Rollout Gives Travel Industry a Shot in the Arm (of Hope)

When Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca announced in November that their vaccines had been found to be at least 90% effective, there was a sharp increase in travel planning and booking.

Travel Weekly reported that Norwegian Cruise Lines and Royal Caribbean both saw an increase in cruise bookings following the news of effective Covid-19 vaccines. SkyScanner, a website for comparing and purchasing airfare, said that searches for travel to Mexico were up 10% over the prior year in the days following Pfizer’s release.

That enthusiasm has carried over into 2021. In a story that appeared on Afar, one travel agent said that she received more inquiries on the first Monday of the New Year than she had in the entire month that the pandemic took hold last year. Travel booking site Hopper reported that the largest increase in searches for 2021 travel have been for the months of July and August – the months that, according to the president, the majority of Americans should have access to the vaccine.

As more people are vaccinated and confidence grows, we inch ever closer to the recovery that the travel industry is so eagerly awaiting. It could begin as soon as this summer.