VILAMOURA, Portugal — A funny thing happened on the way to the recovery. It turns out, no matter what's thrown at us, people are not willing to give up on travel. When the pandemic shut the world down, those who could defied logic and made it to the beach, the ski slopes, the golf course—resort destinations, which proved to not only be resilient, but cash positive.

The pandemic dramatically changed how (and why) we travel.  Business travel shut down leading to the rapid rise of virtual conferencing and events.  Offices closed leading to the rise of remote work.  Consumer health concerns catalyzed a new wave of contactless solutions.  Initially, many thought that these trends would be short lived; however, as the pandemic extended over the last 2 years, these trends that were once thought to be short term grew more and more engrained in our long term behaviors.

The priority for most in 2022 will be to minimise a resurgence from the impact of the COVID-19 crisis, building consumer confidence in key source markets.