More people are booking holidays in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, reported Bloomberg.
According to Airbnb’s CEO, the number of nights booked at US listings between May 17th and June 3rd was greater than the same weeks from previous year, and similar increases in other domestic holidays are being seen in other countries including Germany, South Korea, Portugal and New Zealand.
This shift is a small piece of good news for the travel industry, which has been hammered by travel restrictions, social distancing regulations, and a wider economic downturn caused by Covid-19.
At the beginning of May, Airbnb had to lay off 25% of its staff as business slowed.
Things are far from going back to normal, but this latest data suggests that the types of holidays people are taking have changed, rather than disappearing entirely.
It is not clear how long the reported trend will last. Multiple states across the US had begun to relax their lockdown restrictions as of the week of May 17th, including New York, which means this shift is a temporary spike.
These short-term shifts have the potential to become a long-term trend as most experts predict that a Covid-19 vaccine won’t be developed until the middle of next year
