Terrorism fears prompted by the "Orange Alert" forced U.S hotel occupancy down by nearly two percentage points over the Christmas holiday. PricewaterhouseCoopers reports that U.S hotel occupancy fell 1.5% between Dec. 21 and Dec. 27, which amounted to roughly 25,000 lost room nights. The U.S. lodging industry typically experiences a wave of business around the holiday season, but the terror alert upgrade was announced right before the increase began.
Bjorn Hanson of PricewaterhouseCooper’s hospitality and leisure group says flight cancellations and the crash of an Egyptian commercial jet also added to the climate of fear that led many travelers to cancel or postpone their trips. Hotel occupancy prior to the holiday was averaging about two percentage points less than pre-9/11 levels, according to Hanson.