A month after travel restrictions, social-distancing, cancelled conventions, and stay-at-home advisories went into effect, new data show just how much hotel business has plummeted in Greater Boston and the surrounding counties.
During the first week of April 2019, the occupancy rate for some 39,000 hotel rooms in the region that includes Greater Boston was nearly 77.6%, according to data compiled by Smith Travel Research and provided to WBUR by the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau (GBCVB). By contrast, during the first week of April 2020, the occupancy rate was 11.4%.
“At this stage, we can predict that the tourism industry will be somewhat decimated for quite some time now,” said Martha Sheridan, president and CEO of the GBCVB.
Those that remain open are making a fraction of what they normally would. In early April 2019, hotel rooms generated an average of $167.93 per night. During the same period this year, that rate was down to $13.77 per night — a 92% decrease.
Source: WBUR