Middle seats in the planes of some airlines are vacant. Passengers and crew members aboard cruise ships are wearing masks and socially distancing. Some countries remain closed to nonresidents or won’t allow people from the United States to enter. Many people who normally would be flying are loath to set foot on an airplane. Hotels are running below capacity. Travel over the holidays, usually times of mass migration, has plummeted.
CNN Business says that airline traffic has plunged and probably won’t recover any time soon. Stewart Chiron, a leading expert known as “The Cruise Guy,” says the COVID-19 outbreak may be the worst blow the industry has ever suffered. The kinds of trips people take in the months ahead will be different from in the past, and a number of travel industry experts predict that not all of the changes will disappear as the virus does.
Few aspects of life have been hit harder by the COVID-19 pandemic than travel, and there’s no end in sight. Or is there? People seeking an escape from home still have alternatives. Let’s consider the short-term outlook and longer-term probabilities.
While the borders of many countries are closed, some have lifted travel bans—although perhaps not for people from the United States due to the high rate of infections here. Even when they’re open to Americans, there are safety regulations that must be taken, and some popular tourist sites have restricted access. The first step in planning a trip should be to check the latest information for travelers.
When Dr. Louis Meyers recently flew from Burlington, Vermont, to Washington, D.C., he was routed through Charlotte, North Carolina, and his ticket cost much more than in the past. Higher fares, fewer direct flights, and hassles getting through a number of airports are the new norm for air travel. According to a report on the SFGate website, these challenges aren’t likely to go away soon. It predicts that for the foreseeable future a high percentage of flyers will be “travelers with serious business on the other end.”
