What was meant to be a 20 day curfew, changed the world forever marking this the 2nd year of the pandemic. The last two years left everyone shocked, and hassled. A whole bunch of changes were imposed, that are now also adapted to our daily routines
The main industries that were hit by this were hospitality and travel. Borders were shut down, strict restrictions were a part of everyday routines, and travel restrictions were put into place to avoid the spread of this virus. Domestic and international travel and tourism took the biggest hit of all.
Though spontaneous trips have picked up, careful planning of all longer haul trips will ensue and keeping up with all the restrictions and rules will be an absolute necessity. However, the pandemic has left behind it’s wake new rules that will forever change the way we vacation. Now, as we look back into the near past, here is how travel has changed in the past two years.
- Rise in Road Travel
A sudden realisation has dawned that road travel is just as much fun, convenient and much more feasible! With travel bans in place for the longest time, and everyone getting restless to travel or even just step out of the confines of their own homes, resorted to people exploring their backyards and what lay in their own cities and states. Travel companies may rethink their commercial approaches. The profiles of airline passengers ,hotel guests, alternative lodging accommodations will be different: more leisure guests, later booking windows, and higher demand for flexible tickets, while all this leads to easier booking, it also lets everyone choose their staycation destination at their own comfort. The profiles of travellers by road and rail also had similar changes to the effect. Afterall, isn’t about the journey.
- Workations Being the New Normal
People found a way to work through the pandemic and it was one of the most successful models to come out in a long time with regards to the way people work. If you could log in 8 hours why not do it while lounging by the pool or laying on the beach. Do you also remember the good old days of business travel? Well, maybe they weren’t so good after all – early morning flight, taxi to the meeting venue, quick lunch somewhere close to the office and then back to the airport again. More and more people are travelling again for business these days, but their routines have changed significantly.
Many travelers are now trying to get the best of both worlds and combine business and leisure trips, that’s where the trend of workcations sprouted from. A new trend that sees many travelers using the new freedom of remote working to work and travel at the same time. Flying off to new locations, fulfilling the work week in front of a video call, working at a location of their choice and exploring the destination during free time.
- Small Towns and Outskirts of Cities Grabbing the Spotlight
Big towns and cities, with the ongoing pandemic lost all its appeal during COVID-19 as big crowds and close proximity between people were frowned upon, due to the way the COVID spread. Domestic travel found a new lease, and kept gaining popularity in times people could not get out of the country. Will long-haul travel or international ever recover from the pandemic decline? It most definitely will, but it all depends on health and safety regulations for international travellers.
- Decreased Desire for Hotels and in an Increase in Villa Rentals
The shift to vacation rental properties and other non traditional forms of hospitality and lodging was underway since before the pandemic. With the changes in lifestyle and health that COVID-19 brought about one of the biggest and most permanent travel changes that are here to stay. With a short term rental property, you could be easily maintain social distancing, with multiple bedroom units, apartments, condos and whole homes to rent.
- Travel with Near and Dear Ones Only
Travelling in large groups was always a hassle anyway, the planning, organising and executing being just as taxing as the travel itself and is a rarity these days. Given the new and current situation, people are now preferring travelling with a small group of friends, family or even solo. The realisation that travel with a smaller group can be just as much as fun and low-key and is here to stay.
- Flexibility with Schedules
An unplanned pandemic lead to a lot of decisions being made that were not decided on a traditional way. With ever changing plans, you wouldn’t want to be caught with travel plans you could not alter.
Postponing or cancelling travel was sometimes difficult or costly, but many airlines have started to do away with change fees-at least for all but the very cheapest tickets.
With domestic travel picking up at a fast pace and international travel following suit, the new way to navigate travel through this pandemic has been established in ways, big and small. All these changes in the way we travel are definitely here to stay and in the best way possible and let Ekostay help you in doing the same.
