Who better than Roger Dow to give the industry a much-needed pep talk, just as many are wondering if the COVID-19 crisis will ever end? The venerable president and CEO of the US Travel Association has seen more than his share of disruption during his long tenure (which will end this July), and, he says, the industry has always emerged, better than ever, on the other side.

Speaking at the USTA’s “State of the Travel Industry 2022” address in Washington, DC on Wednesday, Dow admitted, “The past two years tested our industry as never before.”

But he added, “We are in a better position post COVID than we’ve ever been as an industry to work towards our future. We’ve never been more united as an industry, which is really going to serve us well for the future… We are recovering and building back to growth. Together, we are moving beyond the pandemic with our eyes on the future.”

Dow likened travel to a “coiled spring” that “cannot and will not be contained!”

And, he says, “the worst of pandemic is behind us,” pointing to statistics suggesting that the US domestic leisure travel segment has largely recovered and that a surge in travel demand after the deployment of vaccines last year has resulted in more than 80% of Americans saying the are planning a vacation in the next six months.

Of course, all is not rosy and there is much work to be done, acknowledges the USTA chief, noting that cumulative losses in travel spending have totalled US $730 billion in the US during the pandemic and that more than 7% of all leisure and hospitality jobs remain lost.

Professional meetings and events also remain well below pre-pandemic levels, he adds, and that because international business travel makes up a significant portion of the overall travel economy, “without it, we cannot fully recover.”

He also acknowledges that many economists estimate that both domestic business travel and international inbound travel will not fully recover until 2024.

Yet, ever the optimist, Dow, maintains, “I have seen this industry do extraordinary things!”

That, he says, includes 9/11, after which “many people said that no one would ever travel across an ocean again. Yet, that was followed by record numbers of international travel for decades.

“Following the 2008 financial crisis, the brilliant Economist said that 30% of hotels would have to close their doors, which was followed by 10 years of the greatest travel industry growth ever.

“(And) countless national disasters and health scares (like Zika) have threatened the vitality of many destinations, only to see every one of them come back stronger than before.”

“Our industry has shown incredible resilience, optimism, and dedication in the face of these extraordinary challenges,” adds USTA executive VP of public affairs and policy, Tori Emerson Barnes. “While the road to full recovery may be longer than we would like, we are already looking far beyond the pandemic to a brighter, more globally competitive, increasingly more sustainable, diverse, and innovative future for the whole of the US travel industry.”

Indeed, concludes Dow, “We (the travel industry) stick together when times are tough, and we fight our way back. And this setback, though a large one, will be no exception.”

He adds, “We should not singularly view the pandemic as a setback but as an opportunity to reimagine this industry to be stronger than before… We will write our industry’s next great chapter, starting today.”