With COVID travel restrictions now in rear view, business professionals are traveling more and relying on affordable transit. Using location data, let’s take a closer look at YoY changes in the correlation between airport and hotel visitation, as well as foot traffic to other places of interest (POI) during the summer months.
Business venue visitation is on the rise
Foursquare’s analysis on foot traffic to convention centers and conference venues alongside visits to hotels and rental car locations over the last year, demonstrates the rise of business travel in Q3 YoY. Business venues, in particular, were seeing more traffic between mid February through December in densely populated urban hubs such as Los Angeles, New York City and Chicago.
Meanwhile, hotels saw elevated traffic during summer months and compared to the average American consumer, travelers visiting a hotel are 22% more likely to visit a ballroom. This increased lift in traffic across business conventions and hotels in late July and early August compared to the same period in 2021, suggest that there is a new wave of conferences, conventions and other business events happening around the country.
Professionals traveling for both business and pleasure
Despite these professionals’ focus on business travel, Foursquare’s location data reveals increased correlation between convention centers and places like bars, coffee shops and music venues in Q3 YoY. With this insight, brands and marketers should consider where business professionals are spending time and money, as our cross-visitation behavior reveals that the majority of people who visited a convention center also visited nightlife spots and shopping malls.
