But while the slowdown is puncturing hopes of a rebound after the travel industry’s worst year in recent history, the dip in bookings is — for now — relatively small, according to travel advisers and hospitality companies. The hope is that the current situation will be more of a speed bump than a stoplight.
TripActions, a travel management company, reports that while new domestic bookings remain strong, cancellations for same-week travel have been steady at 26 percent for the past month, an uptick from an 18 percent average over the summer, before the Delta variant pushed virus cases up in every state. The airfare app Hopper is seeing a surge in demand for flexible bookings, with a 33 percent increase since early July in tickets that can be canceled for any reason. The company predicts domestic airfare prices will drop 10 percent in the coming weeks, a forecast supported by data from the Transportation Security Administration, which has seen the number of passengers it screens daily dip by about 30,000 since July.
Dolores Halls, a human relations coordinator and plus-size fashion blogger in Chicago, has adjusted three upcoming trips because of fears about the Delta variant.
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