Marie and Ed Graham welcome daughter-in-law Nicola Graham and son Ally as they meet granddaughter Iona (1) for the first time after arriving from London as the US reopens air and land borders to Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) first time since the COVID-19 restrictions were imposed at Sea-Tac Airport in Seattle, Washington, USA, November 8, 2021. REUTERS / Lindsey Wasson
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Dec. 14 (Reuters) – Concerns about the Omicron variant of coronavirus and new travel restrictions have spurred a spike in hotel bookings canceled around the world, online hotel search company Trivago said Tuesday, threatening to reverse a fragile recovery in global tourism.
Cancellation rates rose to 35% since November and vacation planning fell 10%, the company said, adding that most travelers chose domestic destinations.
The company didn’t say what the cancellation rates were prior to November.
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The Omicron outbreak, first reported in southern Africa, has sparked a spate of new testing rules and border closings that raise concerns ahead of the all-important Christmas travel season.
Several events from sports and trade shows to corporate parties have been canceled, which has also resulted in a slowdown in hotel bookings.
The Private Label Manufacturing Association has canceled its annual fair, which should take place in Chicago in February next year, due to the uncertainty caused by the new variant.
U.S. investment bank Jefferies canceled client parties and virtually all but essential trips on Wednesday after nearly 40 new COVID-19 cases were reported to the company. Continue reading
According to Trivago, overall activity around vacation travel planning has slowed and has only grown by 4% since the variant was discovered. In comparison, Christmas trips in 2019 rose 34.7% over the same one to two week period.
Last month, the company announced that search traffic had increased 35% in the week leading up to Thanksgiving.
US travelers stick with Las Vegas and New York as top vacation destinations, the company said.
“Similar to 2020, domestic travel is the preferred option as consumers try to hang out with friends and family,” Trivago said.
The search for international flights from the USA fell between 35% and 39% in the first week of December, according to the information provided by competitor Booking Holdings Inc (BKNG.O)Kayak travel website.
They fell about 25% just before Thanksgiving, a day before the World Health Organization named the new COVID-19 variant, saying it could spread faster than other forms, according to Kayak.
Fears about the variant have grown after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned of a “tidal wave” of new cases. The country reported the world’s first publicly confirmed death from Omicron on Monday.
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Reporting by Aishwarya Nair and Amruta Khandekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi, Sweta Singh, Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Shounak Dasgupta
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