(AP) – U.S. hotel demand likely won’t see a full recovery until 2023, according to a new forecast from travel data company STR and consultant Tourism Economics.
The two firms say they expect average hotel occupancy of 40% this year, slowly climbing to 52% in 2021.
That’s down from a healthy 66% in 2019.
U.S. hotels have been busier this summer in beach locations like Norfolk, Virginia, where occupancy stood at 67% last week, STR said.
Big cities and Hawaii have been slower to recover.
But even as leisure demand rises, hotels are sorely missing business travel and group events like conferences and weddings.
