'A Bright Spot': Airports Had Higher Foot Traffic In December

The travel industry could be in the very early stages of a recovery as airport foot traffic was "slowly recovering" into the holiday season and Christmas travel was a "bright spot," according to location analytics firm Placer.ai.

What Happened: Chicago's O'Hare airport, along with Dallas/Fort Worth, Miami International, and New York's JFK airports showed improving traffic in December versus prior months. Granted, total traffic was still notably lower in December on a year-over-year basis, it does signal that people are "sort of flying."

Despite fewer people taking flights, Christmas travel still showed encouraging signs for some airports, according to a Placer.ai report. Most notably, traffic at Dallas/Fort Worth's airport on Dec. 22 was down 36% year-over-year and down just 24.2% on Dec. 23.

Los Angeles' LAX, O'Hare, Miami International, and JFK all showed similar improvements in traffic on Dec. 23.

Related Link: How Did Retail Perform During The Holidays?

Why It's Important: The worst period for the travel industry may have already passed. Back in August, JFK traffic was down 90% year-over-year versus down 69% in December.

The hotel sector also ended in 2020 on a stronger note, according to Placer.ai. Traffic at Four Points by Sheraton hotels improved from down 51.5% year-over-year in November to down 44.4% in December, Comfort Inn and Suites visits improved from down 27.6% in November to down 20.4% in December.

Best Western visits were among the closest to pre-COVID levels as traffic was down just 13.7% year-over-year for the week of Dec. 25.

"Even with COVID surging again in the states, airports and hotels, while still struggling are making leaps back to normalcy," Placer.ai wrote.