Page 34 - BusinessWest March 31, 2021

Tourism & Hospitality
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Tourism and Hospitality Industry Optimistic for 2021
It’s called ‘revenge spending,’ or ‘vacation retaliation’ — the idea that people who were unable able to spend money on travel last year will go all- out this year. Surveys say it’s a palpable sentiment among Americans right now; the question is whether they will actually follow through on those plans, and how safe they’ll feel doing so. When they’re ready, area tourism and hospitality leaders say, Western Mass. will be an ideal destination, boasting the variety of indoor and outdoor experiences and affordability that travelers seek — an ideal answer to all that pent-up demand.
MBy Joseph Bednar
ary Kay Wydra learned a couple new phrases over the past few months.
“The buzz term is ‘revenge spending,’” the president of
the Greater Springfield Convention & Visi- tors Bureau (GSCVB) said. “That is, ‘I’ll spend more on things I was denied because of COVID.’ Things like in-person entertainment, eating at restaurants next to people, and travel.”
The other buzzword making its way around the tourism industry is ‘vacation retal- iation,’ and it means roughly the same thing.
She likes those phrases — or, more accu- rately, what those sentiments portend. “That bodes well for us as a region,” she told Busi- nessWest. “We are affordable and easily acces- sible — a destination with a lot to offer.”
Indeed, while COVID-19 has been far from a positive for the region, it did open many people’s eyes to what Western Mass. has to offer, particularly those who migrated here to
Gillian Amaral (left) and Stacey Warren, co-founders
of Three Chics Hospitality.
34 MARCH 31, 2021
TOURISM & HOSPITALITY
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