We here at Cornerstone Information Systems have been working on a method to aggregate, anonymize, and distribute information about the health of the Travel Industry – gathered from all of the data that flows through our network every month. We feel that it is paramount that companies with data share our knowledge and the foresight it brings so that we might not experience a repeat of the crash that accompanied the emergence of COVID.
To facilitate that goal of data sharing, and yet also keep the data of our clients private, we have been working on the creation of a Cornerstone Index.
Here are the numbers coming out of the Index regarding April 2022:
 | Avg Trip Spend | $1537.86 |  +4% | |
 | Avg Air Spend | $743.57 | +9% | |
 | Avg Hotel Spend | $570.68 | +1% | |
 | Avg Car Rental Spend | $223.61 |  -2% |
There was also a 7% Decrease in processed trips taken from March 2022 to April 2022.
** All currency is displayed in USD – the aggregates of our data have been converted into USD before being taken into account and calculating the Index numbers **
April 2022 Analysis
- While April dipped a little in terms of total trips processed by Cornerstone’s systems from March, this is nothing to worry about. The absolutely explosive growth in business travel throughout Q1 of this year means than a 7% decline will not do too much damage. As the summer ramps up and trade shows begin to be held, we expect this number to keep climbing.
- Prices for most categories have kept up in a steady climb, with only car rentals staying relatively stable. Car rental costs have not waivered outside of +/- 4% in many quarters with the exception of the quick spike this last February. Strong prices mean strong usage, so these are optimistic signs.
- While April’s total processed trips number is lower than last month, it’s still a massive improvement year over year. April 2022 saw a 41% increase in trips taken vs April 2021. We are still on track to hit 2019 numbers.
Information on the Cornerstone Index:
Much like how the S&P 500 Index tells the health of the US Stock Market, the Cornerstone Index is meant to reflect the health of the travel industry according to the data that we have available to us.
Please note that we are performing adjustments and cleansing to ensure an accurate index. This means that during our development of the index, some values may fluctuate month to month in their calculations. However, we do not believe this offsets major trends.
