Utah hotels expected to be down nearly 1,000 jobs in 2021 vs. 2019

Utah is expected to have 954 fewer hotel jobs in 2021 than it had in 2019, according to a study by the American Hotel & Lodging Association and Kalibri Labs. The state had 24,914 hotel jobs in 2019, 18,634 in 2020 and is expected to have 22,960 this year, representing a 4 percent drop.

Nationwide, the hotel industry is projected to end 2021 down more than $59 billion in business travel revenue compared to 2019. That comes after losing nearly $49 billion in business travel revenue in 2020.

Business travel is the hotel industry’s largest source of revenue and has been slow to return since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Business travel includes corporate, group, government and other commercial categories. Business travel revenue is not expected to reach pre-pandemic levels until 2024.

Hotels are expected to end 2021 down nearly 500,000 jobs, compared to 2019. For every 10 people directly employed on a hotel property, hotels support an additional 26 jobs in the community, from restaurants and retail to hotel supply companies, meaning an additional nearly 1.3 million hotel-supported jobs are also at risk, according to the study.

The market expected to end the year with the largest decline in hotel business travel revenue is New York City, down 4 billion, or 88.4 percent. The most-impacted state is projected to be California, down $9.8 billion, or 74 percent.