Atlanta tourism officials say they expect an uptick in visitors in 2022 after the omicron variant slowed the city’s tourism recovery over the last two months of last year.
Hotel occupancy rates in Atlanta were more than 10% higher in 2021 as compared to the previous year, thanks largely to leisure travel.
William Pate, who leads the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau, says he expects a stronger return of business and group travel this year, pandemic permitting.
“There’s a pent-up demand for travel,” said Pate. “Absolutely no doubt about it. You see it in all of the data.”
When the pandemic first hit in 2020, Atlanta hotels saw their occupancy rates plunge to 36% for the year. A rebound last year brought that percentage up to just over 48%. But that still lags far behind 2019 numbers when there was a 74% occupancy rate.
“All of the indicators show that the business is going to be very strong this year,” said Pate. ”It’s not going to be as strong as 2019, it’s going to take us another year, probably to make a complete recovery.”
While the vast majority of Atlanta’s major conventions are still on for this year, one group, Pittconn, canceled its March meeting, citing uncertainty over the coronavirus.
