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1. Hope emerges that travel delays could spur end of government shutdown
With the U.S. federal government shutdown now over a week long, there is some hope that pressure from worsening travel delays could spark legislative action, Axios reports.
The news outlet says travel delays are only likely to grow worse as more and more air traffic controllers don't show up for work citing illness — a phenomenon that played a major role in ending the 2018-19 shutdown.
An anonymous air traffic controller told Axios they are mandated to call in sick due to fatigue, and many are already feeling pushed to the max.
"I imagine many controllers are stressed to the max prior to a shutdown, and this piles it on," they said. "It's not unreasonable to make the leap that we are unsafe to work because of stress which contributes to lack of sleep and/or physical illness."
2. Travel grows while spending shrinks for China's Golden Week
While overall spending was down in China's Golden Week holiday period, travel was up, Reuters reports.
Data from the Chinese government notes there were 888 million total trips during the period, up from 765 million the year prior, and revenue grew 15% year over year to 809 billion yuan ($113.6 billion).
But the average spend per traveler was down 0.55% to 911.04 yuan, the lowest mark since 2022 when the country still had COVID-19 lockdowns.
3. Economic uncertainty dragging on hotel industry
At The Lodging Conference in Phoenix, Bernard Baumohl — chief global economist for The Economic Outlook Group — said the travel industry is currently weathering "truly one of the more bizarre moments in U.S. economic history" resulting in "confusion, chaos and uncertainty," CoStar News' Stephanie Ricca reports.
Baumohl said one observable effect at the moment has been a drop in rate growth at a period where occupancy has held stronger.
“That raises the question whether the industry has given up too much pricing power,” he said.
4. Delta execs project strong end to 2025
In delivering their third-quarter results, officials with Delta Air Lines are projecting a stronger than originally expected end to the year, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian cited a pickup in flight bookings starting in July, with the premium cabin outpacing coach.
“Looking to 2026, Delta is well-positioned to deliver top-line growth, margin expansion and earnings improvement consistent with our long-term financial framework,” he said in an earnings release.
5. Vienna company to revive Pan Am as hotel brand
One of the most historic names in travel is slated to make a comeback — albeit in a very different form than before — as Vienna-based JP Hospitality has announced plans for a new brand called Pan Am Hotel, CoStar News' Terence Baker reports.
JP announced the project at Expo Real in Munich and said its strategy was to recreate the “golden age of travel” and the return of “premium lifestyle to the world of airport hotels.”
The brand will seek an even mix of business and leisure travelers and include both new-build hotels and conversions. Hotels would contain between 150 and 300 rooms and would include “daytime sleeperettes,” pod-rooms that can be booked for non-overnight airport stopovers.