Meeting planners hoping for vaccine
Global DMC Partners has released its most recent Meetings & Events Pulse Survey. The survey had 447 respondents from the meetings and events industry, with meeting planners accounting for 90% of those. Key highlights of the findings included:
- Over 90% reported that some or all of their 2020 events have been postponed to 2021
- Nearly three-quarters of planners are moving their face-to-face events to virtual or hybrid in 2021. While most respondents predict that their face-to-face events will resume in the first half of 2021, many are planning to include a virtual option with their live event, indicating that 2021 will be a hybrid year
- 82% believe a vaccine is the most important factor in bringing back face-to-face events
Americans eager to travel in 2021
The latest indicators on traveler sentiment show some good news for the industry. According to data company YouGov, from October and November, 51% of U.S. respondents say they plan to travel for a vacation or business trip next year. Travel aspirations are highest among younger Americans. Data indicates that 57% of 18-to-29-year-olds and 59% of 30-to-44-year-olds say they will either take a domestic/international vacation or domestic/international business trip within the next 12 months. And while a third of overall respondents say they do not plan to travel, each of these younger groups are significantly less likely to say so (24% and 27%, respectively).
Hong Kong hotels struggling without international tourism
Hotels in Hong Kong are struggling to survive without overseas and mainland visitors. Facing a critical period of “life or death,” hotels in Hong Kong have to swap focus into local demand. A new report from Horwath HTL Hong Kong provides a general understanding of how hotels in Hong Kong are responding to the coronavirus crisis and whether staycation or long stay packages can help hotels to reach breakeven amid the pandemic.
The TikTok chef cooking with hotel room appliances
Jago Randles, 23, has been creating cooking videos on TikTok during his two-week quarantine stay at the Gec Granville Suites Hotel in Vancouver, Canada, which have gone viral thanks to his unsettling use of hotel room appliances. In what appears to be a typical budget room (there’s a laminate desktop; the phone looks like your standard hotel phone), Randles cooks fresh, elaborate meals with the clothes iron and a Hamilton Beach Aroma coffee maker. He has made bacon cheeseburgers, a toasted Nutella and banana sandwich, and kebab wraps with hummus, among other specialties.