Linchi Kwok, Ph.D.

Travel and tourism are set to recover. New research by the World Travel & Tourism Council shows that the industry is expected to generate     North America   There are no quarantine restrictions for people traveling to the U.S., although travelers might be asked to show a negative result from a recent COVID-19 test (e.g., within 48 hours) before getting onto an airplane.   Canada   announced that it would open its border to fully vaccinated international travelers starting February 28 (Scherer, 2022). Inbound travelers still need a rapid antigen test, which is cheaper and can show results within minutes, instead of the traditional molecular test.     Europe   Denmark, having an 81% vaccination rate, was the first E.U. country to lift all COVID-19 restrictions. According to a recent   BBC update   (2022), the U.K. is also in the phase of removing all COVID-19 restrictions starting as early as February. COVID tests have been waived for fully vaccinated travelers in the U.K., either b

In early February, New York City Council’s two committees that oversee zoning and land use   voted to favor   zoning changes for permanent outdoor dining. This is the first step for NYC to have a permanent al fresco eatery program. Another vote by the entire 51 members of the Council is scheduled for February 24.     Why do we need outdoor dining?      Prior to the pandemic, restaurants in NYC were operated in narrow districting zones. An emergency Open Restaurant Program was introduced during COVID-19, allowing restaurants to use sidewalk adjacent and curbside roadway space in front of their establishments for outdoor dining. Outdoor dining was estimated to save about 100,000 restaurant jobs during the pandemic.     What is the timeline to make outdoor dining permanent in NYC?   According to   the city's website , legal actions will take place between fall 2021 and fall 2022, including an amendment to zoning text, changes to local law, rulemaking, design, and application details.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics ( 2022a ,   2022b ) released the latest labor market statistics. The unemployment rate further declined to 3.9% in December 2021. The number of unemployed persons continued to decrease by 483,000 to 6.3 million. The leisure and hospitality industry added 2.6 million jobs in 2021, but employment was still down by 1.2 million, or -7.2%, since February 2020.     Highlights from the accommodation and foodservices sector   (October 2021 vs. November 2021) Job openings: 1571 vs. 1310 thousand, or -261,000 (largest decrease among all sectors) Hires: 1075 vs. 1079 thousand, or +4,000. Separations (layoffs, discharges, retirement, death, disability, and transfer to other locations of the same firm): 918 vs. 1048 thousand, or +130,000 (largest increase among all sectors) Quitting: 761 vs. 920 thousand, or +159,000, (largest increase among all sectors)   Is the labor shortage over already?     Just because the industry has fewer job openings in November, it does not

The pandemic brought historically low occupancy, massive job loss, and hotel closures around the world. By September 2020, about six months after the World Health Organization claimed the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic,   34% of the hotels in New York City   were delinquent. Many hotels closed their doors.      Hotel transactions in 2020     Owners were holding on or trying to avoid distressed sales as much as possible in 2020.   Hotel transactions “fell off the cliff”   after March 15, 2020, just like the hotel occupancy and the average daily rate did. Only six single-asset trades at $10 million or more were recorded in the second quarter of 2020, an 83% year-over-year decline. In the third and fourth quarters, such a trend continued at 80% and 75% year-over-year decline rates, respectively. A comparison between 2020 and 2019 shows:     Transaction volume: $5.3 billion vs. $17.7 billion (a decline of 70%) Average sale price per key: $273,000 vs. $364,000 (a decline of 25%)   Growth t