The swarm of history buffs on the Freedom Trail has returned. Storefronts on Newbury Street and beyond are abuzz with customers.
After two years of pandemic-induced financial devastation, the yearly influx of visitors to the Bay State looks like it’s finally on the rebound, with hotels preparing for record crowds this summer and hoping to reignite the region’s lucrative tourism industry.
Still, one stubborn leg of the industry has yet to recover: Business travel. And hospitality leaders are trying to figure out what to do about that.
The conferences and face-to-face meetings that once kept Boston-area hotel rooms and restaurants filled seven days a week haven’t returned to what they were before the pandemic, at least not yet. You can thank the corporate world’s tedious emergence from remote work that never seems to quite take hold for good.
“We believe people getting back in the office is good for business,” Chip Rogers, president and CEO of the American Hotel and Lodging…