“Vacation, everything I ever wanted. Vacation, I had to get away.”
Consumers clearly want to start traveling again, especially as more adults are vaccinated.
“We’ve had a phenomenal recovery,” said Vrbo President Jeff Hurst in an interview with CNN Business. “We could see a real boom in leisure travel.”
An upsurge in vacations could lift all the boats in the area. Hurst, who is also Expedia’s co-head of marketing, said the company’s many other brands, including Hotels.com, Travelocity, Orbitz and Hotwire, are also starting to rebound.
“More and more people are looking for central urban destinations that have been argued during the pandemic. People are interested in returning to Las Vegas,” said Hurst, adding that there is a certain degree of freedom for people who have already received coronavirus vaccines now. to feel.
“People will start to book more flights and hotels and resorts will make a big comeback,” he said.
But there will also be people who will want to drive a few hours to get to a rental house in the woods instead of flying to a beach or hill station and staying in a fancy hotel.
Hurst said that Vrbo, which was founded in 1995 as Vacation Rentals By Owner, is having its best start to a year in a quarter of a century in the United States, adding that people are also starting to book trips from. been much earlier than usual.
Hurst de Vrbo said that another trend he is seeing is the rise of so-called “flexcation”. More and more people are willing to be away for longer periods.
The growing trend towards working from home and the availability of virtual education make it more desirable for people to be away from home for weeks … or even months.
The recovery in employment could accelerate
The US Jobs Report is the big event on the calendar next week.
Investors will be looking to see if the economy can improve on the 379,000 jobs created in February. March numbers will be released Friday at 8:30 a.m. ET.
How will investors react? Well … they won’t. At least not right away. U.S. markets will be closed for Good Friday, which is not a federal holiday.
The unemployment rate now stands at 6.2% from the peak of 14.7% last April. But there could be more improvement on Friday.
“With recent robust survey data indicating bullish business confidence, supported by the vaccine rollout and new $ 1.9 trillion stimulus, hiring is likely to have remained strong in March,” IHS Markit analysts said.
Capital Economics said the labor market recovery likely “kicked into high gear” in March, driven by a rebound in recreation and hospitality hires as states including Texas lifted restrictions on businesses and restaurants.
“The continued rebound in OpenTable restaurant data suggests that the recovery in bar and restaurant employment is accelerating, in line with overall employment in the leisure sector,” US economist Andrew Hunter wrote in a report. research note.
Capital Economics predicts that 700,000 jobs were added to the economy in March, which would be the best month since September.
Following
Tuesday: US consumer confidence; Results from BioNTech, BlackBerry and Lululemon Athletica
Wednesday: EIA raw inventories; the benefits of Walgreens Boots Alliance and Micron; Deliveroo IPO
Thusday: ISM manufacturing index; claims for unemployment benefits in the United States; CarMax earnings
Friday: Employment report for March; American markets closed for Good Friday
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