Among the hardest-hit industries during the pandemic was travel and tourism. According to the U.S. Travel Association, the market had lost $755 billion in revenue through the end of 2021 and one-third of all jobs were lost in the first few weeks of the pandemic in the spring of 2020.

Fortunately, the industry is gradually improving as travelers head back to roads, seas and skies for both leisure and business purposes. The U.S. Travel Association recently reported that travel spending in December 2022 was 3% above the same month in 2019 and surpassed 2021 by 7%. International bookings are on the rise too – the United Nations’ World Tourism Organization found that 900 million tourists traveled last year, twice the number that traveled in 2021.

In this episode of Promo Insiders, Dr. Jan Louise Jones, professor of hospitality and tourism at the University of New Haven’s Pompea College of Business, and Ellen Overcast, vacation specialist at Main Street Getaways, a Dream Vacations franchise in Kutztown, PA, join ASI Media’s Sara Lavenduski to discuss the state of the travel industry, what travelers should expect in the coming months, and ideas for branded products that distributors can sell to travel agents, cruise lines, tour groups and more.