Skift

Ask Skift Is the AI Chatbot for the Travel Industry. Try It. Episode Notes The U.S. tourism industry has gotten a boost from the Biden administration lifting its vaccine requirement for inbound travelers in May. However, a prominent U.S. tourism official believes the industry won’t make a full recovery without the large-scale return of Chinese visitors, writes Global Tourism Reporter Dawit Habtemariam.  Brand USA CEO Chris Thompson said at a U.S. Senate hearing this week that dropping the vaccine mandate has helped boost visitor numbers. But he acknowledged that the eased travel curbs won’t be enough to compensate for the lack of Chinese tourists. The U.S. welcomed over 540,000 Chinese travelers in April, a 81 percent drop from the same month in 2019. China reopened its borders earlier this year for international travel after more than two years of restrictions. Next, the short-term rental industry is poised to benefit enormously from the boom in summer travel, writes Short-Term Rental Reporter Srividya Kaly