The Future of Travel

Covid-19 has caused a great disturbance in the every day lives of everyone around the world. Due to the pandemic, we all know that major tourism based companies have had to shutter their doors to the public. This is causing them to offer refunds to the people whose vacations were cancelled as well as additional costs that this is causing these corporations. Companies such as Disney, reported a loss of $1.4 Billion Dollars in the first quarter during the course of the pandemic. (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/disney-q1-earnings-1-4-billion-coronavirus-pandemic/) That is not to forget all of the smaller organizations, family businesses and entire nations that are losing tons of money due to the impact of this virus. However, I personally believe travel is going to be back and become stronger than ever.

I realize that many people are scared to travel at this time and I don't blame them. With the media coverage constantly pointing out all of the negatives, it is doing a great job at spreading the fear of travel instead of bringing light to the positive things coming out of this crazy world. One of those positive things is that many organizations are coming up with better ways to help keep you safe when travelling. For example, CLIA based cruise lines have already held themselves to standards that exceeded what was required by the CDC or the WHO. They were already adhering to strict standards regarding the safety and sanitation of the cruise ships, medical facilities on board and training of the crew members. (https://cruising.org/about-the-industry/policy-priorities/Public%20Health%20and%20Medical) In fact, if you research Cruise Line standards and compare them to other forms of travel, you will find that they have some of the most stringent standards in the travel industry. However, there is never clean enough and we all do accept the fact that there may be up to 6000 people on a ship with no where to go while at sea. The reason that the cruise lines will come out of this in the end is because they will have more stringent safety and security measures in place to ensure the health and well-being of all their crew and guests while on vacation. In fact, some river cruise companies like Uniworld Boutique River Cruises have already released their updated health and safety standards to include health screenings for all guests at embarkation, regular health checks of crew, extra sanitizing wipes through out the ship and removing all self service food options. (https://www.cruisetradenews.com/uniworld-releases-new-health-and-safety-protocols/) In my opinion, these types of enhancements will happen all over the travel industry from small operations to the major organizations such as Disney and the various airlines.

The second reason that I truly believe that the travel industry will continue to thrive once it is back up and running is because of the global community as a whole. As Mark Twain once said, "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness." I firmly believe that through travel, we can make this world a better place. When you travel, you are getting the chance to have an experience that you wouldn't have imagined when sitting at home. There are so many travel organizations whose goal is to make this world better by providing opportunities for those to thrive through travel. One of those organizations is G-Adventures that believes in Responsible Travel to help make this world a better place. (https://www.gadventures.com/about-us/responsible-travel/) Through their work with organizations such as the Planeterra Foundation, they are using small group adventure tours to help those in small communities find opportunities to provide for themselves and their entire community. Unfortunately, due to the impact of Covid-19, the communities that the Planeterra Foundation is helping is struggling mightily, I believe that tourism to help the global community will be back stronger than ever before. If you are interested in seeing and/or donating to the work of the Planeterra Foundation, check out its web page. (https://planeterra.org/)

The last reason that I know travel will come back greater than ever is seen with your eyes in your own communities. People are simply struggling with the stay at home orders and are ready to escape the current reality. As places such as beaches are starting to open in Florida, they are being filled to capacity in under an hour each day. As travel opens more, they are going to try to escape from their homes, where they have been forced to stay for the last few months, and find a way to feel free again. Travel will give them these opportunities. It may start with local travel staying at a hotel on Clearwater Beach or a weekend trip to a Disney Destination globally but they will start to visit these various places. I can't say how long it will take to grow to what it was before Covid-19, but with the enhanced safety measures, the need to make a difference in the global communities and the urge to simply escape your own home, travel will be back.