The COVID-19 crisis continues to have severe consequences on hospitality and travel and hotels all over the world still have a long way to go in order to reach their normal levels of occupancy. After a short period with positive trends and encouraging data on the TrustYou Travel Health Index (THI), the second wave of coronavirus cases made itself known in the overall number of global guest reviews, which suffered a slight decrease in the last few weeks. While things are still uncertain and the trends can very quickly change their course, great news has been reported in the week ending July 19th: Europe has officially moved out of the Severe state into Impaired and shows a clear and steady upwards trend with a score of 44 on the THI key in the last week.
In the graphic above, we have exemplified the trajectory of each region from the end of 2019 up until the current month. Based on the number of guest reviews, we can clearly see the drastic halt that happened during March and has extended over the following months, due to lockdown and international travel restrictions. While recovery is happening at a slow pace, regions like Asia, Europe, and North America have recently registered an upwards trajectory. In most regions, however, the new wave of COVID-19 cases has impacted that positive trend, leading to slight decreases. At the moment, Europe is the only region that appears to be on a steady upward trend in terms of hotel guest reviews, signaling an increase in the number of check-ins.
Recent data shows that several European countries are scoring high on the THI, leaving the Severe state behind and in some cases, even the Impaired one. Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Russia, Sweden – these are just a few of the countries that are currently in the Impaired State. Others like France, Norway, and Switzerland have already reached the Declined state, only one step from Steady, which signals normal volumes of guest reviews.
To get a better understanding of the different states as calculated by our exclusive Travel Health Index, here’s a quick visual breakdown:
While positive changes are visible, it is hard to determine exactly what will happen next. This is why it’s crucial to keep an eye on the week-over-week trends to determine the direction in which travel and hospitality are headed, based on guest reviews from the largest review database in the world.
Make sure to check the Travel Health Index for ongoing, weekly updates that are calculated both on a global and a regional level. If you are looking for more information and insightful advice on how to push through the crisis and prepare for recovery, check out our COVID-19 resource library. Better yet, you can join our exclusive Recovery Race, to have access to free content, resources, expert advice, videos, and everything in between.