Edmond Life and Leisure - May 16, 2024

May is Bike Month in Edmond

Our friend and city planner for the City of Edmond dropped by to remind me that May is National Bike month. Edmond has always embraced Bike Month and our town is full of folks that love to bike. Of course, safety is at the top of the list when it comes to biking and all of the plans for streets in Edmond include accommodation for bikers.

This coming Friday, May 17th, is Bike to Workday Celebration. We gather at 7:30 a.m. at Edmond Municipal Library/Shannon Miller Park, 10 S. Boulevard. The promotional ride for the event leaves at 7:45 a.m. and returns for YOGA in the Park, breakfast refreshments and door prizes. It really is a fun event and if you feel like you live too far away to ride to the park, just bring it with you and enjoy the promotional ride. It is not long folks. If I can do it anybody can. The event is sponsored by the City of Edmond, Al’s Bicycle and 3’s Yoga.

That same weekend, May 17-19, is bike to worship weekend to encourage riding your bicycle to your place of worship. It would be a fun group activity.

Saturday May 18th is a big day indeed here in Edmond. It is Cycle 66 Training Ride which starts at 8:00 a.m., and leaves from The Edmond Municipal Library/Shannon Miller Park. There will also be a Heard on Hurd casual bike ride leaving the Edmond Post office in downtown Edmond at 7:00 p.m.

Tuesday May 21st is going to be Bicycle Movie Night at Frenzy’s located at 15 S Broadway in Edmond. It starts at 6:30 p.m. and you can watch a bicycle documentary movie snacking on popcorn and pretzels.

Jan and her committee do a great job on these biking events so I would encourage you to come out and participate. The events are for folks just wanting to have some leisurely fun or for the hardcore biking folks. It is all good.

National travel and tourism week

May 19 through the 25th is National Travel and tourism week. It is interesting to see the dynamics of travel and how they have changed since 2020. Much of it has seemed to rebound and trips closer to home have improved over these last few

years, which is good from where Edmond sits. We have an upward curve with more people seeking to stay close to home and with Edmond having more and more to offer.

A return to a thriving travel industry — and American economy — is dependent on the full return of business travel, meetings and events. Business travel, meetings and events produce significant economic contributions to destinations and host communities around the country in the form of travel spending, job creation and tax revenue. The biggest problem is that the business world has learned how to get by without the excess travel expense.

Why it matters: In the past, despite making up 20% of total trip volume, business travelers accounted for 40-60% of lodging and air revenue— underscoring the essential role of this critical segment to the travel industry and our economy.

In 2023, total business travel generated $294 billion in travel spending, marking an 81% recovery from 2019 levels. Transient business travelers generated $175 billion in spending in 2023. While transient business recovered to 83% of 2019 levels in 2023, growth has slowed as companies maintain cost constraints.

Group travel, while initially declining more than transient business travel has made significant progress and is projected to grow faster than transient travel through 2024 as a result of the desire for face-to-face interactions. In 2023, group travel generated nearly $120 billion in spending, recovering to 79% of 2019 levels.

Barriers to business travel: While cost constraints remain the top barrier to business travel, travel hassles are having an increasingly negative impact while cost concerns fall.

Some good news: Following months of persistent advocacy from the U.S. travel industry, Congress has passed funding for the office of the

Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Travel and Tourism — a presidentially appointed, U.S. Senate-confirmed position that will work to increase international business travel by facilitating large conventions, sporting events and meetings held in the U.S. Funding this position is a step in ensuring the long-term global competitiveness of the United States.

Business travel and professional meetings and events are critical to the full recovery of not only travel, but also the U.S. economy. The industry is going to have to help business find a way to justify the expense because no business in this country is anxious to put this line item back into its budget without a good reason.

Driven by Tourism Economics' travel forecasting model, the latest U.S. Travel Forecast projects the following:

International travel to the U.S. is growing quickly but is still far from a full pre-pandemic recovery.

An expected global macroeconomic slowdown, a strong dollar, and lengthy visa wait times could inhibit future growth, with volume reaching 98% of 2019 levels in 2024 (up from 84% recovered in 2023) and achieving a full recovery in 2025. Spending levels, when adjusted for inflation, are not expected to recover until 2026.

Other countries with whom the U.S. directly competes have recovered their pre-pandemic visitation rates more quickly, and some countries—such as France and Spain—have even increased their share of the global travel market. Meanwhile, U.S. global market share is declining.

Business travel is still expected to grow in 2024, albeit at a slower rate.

Volume in the sector is expected to end the year at 95% of 2019 levels— up from 89% recovered in 2023. Slowing economic growth will hinder domestic business travel’s recovery, with a full comeback in volume not expected until 2026. Domestic business travel spending is not expected to recover to pre-pandemic levels within the range of the forecast.

Domestic leisure growth decelerated through three quarters of 2023 as consumer spending slowed amid higher borrowing costs, tighter credit conditions and the restart of student loan repayments.

The sector achieved a full recovery to pre-pandemic levels in 2022.

With COVID hanging over our heads overall travel is going to be slow to recover to pre-pandemic levels. We took a trip to Europe on the Viking river cruise line this last September. We brought back so many great memories, but we also brought back COVID. You take any kind of group travel, and you are sure to get COVID folks. This is another reason that travel has stayed closer to home. Our travel future will look quite a bit different in the future.

The airlines have much work to do as well. When we have the choice of so many great places in Oklahoma and surrounding states, it is far more tempting to stay close to home instead of fighting the work of taking a flight to a far away destination. We are lucky in that Lisa, and I have both traveled the world and we are at a point in our lives where we have a goal of making our trip a pleasant one instead of making it an adventure. I wonder how many will be the same.

(Ray Hibbard may be reached for comment at ray@edmondpaper.com.)