Tomlinson: Vaccine offers promise, but COVID still requires discipline, sacrifice in months ahead By Chris Tomlinson, Staff writer
Vaccines generate hope that we will soon curtail the COVID-19 pandemic, but resolving our economic and health crises will require continued personal discipline and collective economic sacrifice.
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Almost every day, I see a headline declaring that some key indicator has turned positive. Unemployment is not as bad as feared, the economy did not shrink as much as anticipated, businesses are not in as bad a shape as analysts expected.
Pharmaceutical companies developed vaccines at record speed, better treatments mean fatality rates are dropping, and the mutant viruses are manageable. Every day, scientists learn something new, taking us a step closer to normalcy.
Tomlinson: Vaccine offers promise, but COVID still requires discipline, sacrifice in months ahead
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Veronica Smith, from front left, her nephew Nicholas Rogers, 17, her brother Herman Rogers, and her sister Catherine Rogers help load donated items Monday, Jan. 18, 2021, at MacGregor Park in Houston. The event was part of the MLK Day Virtual Experience and Parade of Giving.Jon Shapley, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographerShow MoreShow Less
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Houston Fire Department Honor Guard Assistant Commander Carlos Pascualli rings a bell as Mayor Sylvester Turner led a local memorial to lives lost to COVID-19 Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021, in Houston. Participants honored all lives lost in Houston, Harris County and the state of Texas to COVID-19 complications.Steve Gonzales, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographerShow MoreShow Less
David Becker / Getty Images
The U.S. hotel industry suffered its worst year on record in 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic severely crimped business travel and Americans gave up on vacations to stay at home.
Hotels hit all-time lows in occupancy and in revenue per available room last year, according to data provider STR.
With an occupancy rate of just 44%, the industry surpassed 1 billion unsold room nights for the first time in history, eclipsing the 786 million that went unsold during the global financial crisis in 2009.
And with revenue per available room down nearly 48%, the industry is expected to show close to zero profit for 2020, according to STR.
Tourism CEO sees brights spots in pandemic-stricken industry
Scott Marion, smarion@hearst.com
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ALTON The hotel industry has been hit especially hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the recovery process may take several years.
Locally, though, there are signs that the turnaround will at least begin in 2021.
The American Hotel & Lodging Association recently released its State of the Hotel Industry 2021 report, examining the economics of recovery after the industry experienced its worst year on record in 2020. The disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic resulted in historically low room occupancy, massive job losses and hotel closures across the nation.