Trivago CFO Weighs in on Vaccine Impact on Travel

It’s been a week of good news for the travel industry in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

Last Monday, Pfizer announced its COVID-19 vaccine made it through Phase 3 trials with a 90 percent effective rate. Yesterday, Moderna announced its version of a vaccine has had a 94.5 percent efficacy rate.

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Both drugs could be distributed as early as next month.

Now the chief financial officer for online travel company Trivago says that the vaccines will help, of course, but doesn't expect things to get back to normal until more like 2022.

Matthias Tillmann told financial media outlet Barron’s that “If we really get it by year-end, it will probably take time in 2021 to distribute this so it won’t have a big impact on our industry. But then 2022, it can be a big game-changer.”

Part of the thinking is that Tillman doesn’t anticipate people will be booking intercontinental flights that they put off during the pandemic, especially with business travel at a virtual standstill.

“I think [a vaccine] will for sure have a positive impact. Perception will be much more positive towards travel,” he said. “But I wouldn’t assume that people say that, ‘Now I will go on this long-haul flight to Asia from Europe or to the U.S.’ People will probably feel safer to travel within their regions. That’s what we anticipate.”

Tillmann also said he’s optimistic about a Joseph Biden administration because the President-elect appears to be taking the virus more seriously than President Trump.

“It seems like he has the whole situation on his agenda and wants to put stricter measures in place to fight the virus,” Tillman said. “I think it’s better for the overall industry to take the short-term pain, be very serious about it, and do everything to contain the situation and then go back onto a sustainable recovery in the long term.”