D/R DOWNLOAD 2.18

What’s Trending

01/ On Google

• ‘Cruises 2022’ trended +2,000% this week, as the CDC eases its cautions on cruising for vaccinated travelers. 

• Searches for ‘American Airlines flight attendant’ trended +2,650% after a story went viral of a flight attendant striking a man with a coffee pot as the unruly passenger tried to open the exit door during a flight.

02/ With Media

• The New York Times published the top travel trends for Spring 2022 with travelers prioritizing the ‘Go Big’ mindset.  

• ViacomCBS Inc announced this week it's renaming itself Paramount Global and will refer to itself as Paramount moving forward. 

• Journalists this week expressed story interest in travel insurance, wellness trips and ecotourism.

03/ In The Zeitgeist

• This year, Super Bowl advertising took a different approach, sharing a common goal to keep it light. Marketers refrained from referring to COVID-19 in favor of more positive concepts such as friendship and human connection. 

• Worldle, a map-based game challenging for both geography experts and the most seasoned world travelers, has gained widespread popularity, lighting up brains and mobile devices across the world.

• A sixth-grade student in Norway recovered the remains of a mini boat launched by New Hampshire middle schoolers after traveling for 462 days and more than 8,300 miles.

Industry Insights

• Alaska Airlines is the first major U.S.-based carrier to launch a flight subscription program. Consumers can subscribe to Alaska Airlines’ Flight Pass for $49 per month and fly up to 24 roundtrip flights each year.

• Airbus predicts that the Asia-Pacific region will return to leading the world’s transportation post-pandemic and fuel 42% of larger aircrafts.

• The World Travel & Tourism Council, representing the global industry, projects that travel and tourism in the United States will reach pre-pandemic levels in 2022, contributing nearly $2 trillion to the U.S. economy.

• Inspirato, a subscription business for luxury home stays, began trading on Nasdaq Monday in a special purpose acquisition company deal with its eyes on securing additional leases of luxury homes and investing in its subscription technology, the guest experience and personalization. 

• The Plaza Hotel in New York City has been transformed into an interactive The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel experience as guests take in afternoon high tea with Midge-inspired delights, or stay in a Plaza hotel suite inspired by the Emmy award-winning show.

Best Practices

01/ The Good

• A handful of companies, including online marketplace Etsy and British supermarket Tesco, are adapting their marketing strategies in response to customers’ sensitivities to holidays, letting them block email blasts anchored to Valentine’s Day as well as other dates on the calendar that can be difficult to handle like Mother’s and Father’s Day.

02/ The Bad

• The media is under fire after headlines surrounding the disqualification of Olympic medalist Mikaela Shiffrin fail to remember the immense pressure and human nature behind the event. Many compared the media reaction to that which followed Simone Biles’ summer Olympics exit due to mental health concerns.

Covid-Related Updates

• France is waiving all pre-departure testing for fully vaccinated travelers entering the country. 

• The CDC downgraded its travel alert for cruising to Level 3, while still encouraging lines to require passengers to be boosted before sailing.

• On Feb 28, Canada will begin accepting rapid antigen tests in addition to PCR tests for arriving travelers. 

• The nation's leading health officials stated that the U.S. will likely begin lifting more pandemic restrictions and the mask mandate soon, as we move closer to the point that COVID-19 is no longer a "constant crisis".

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