In these tough times for the tourism economy, people want to know what travel will be like during and after corona virus. Will anyone be travelling at all? Here are some questions well answered and facts shared by Sanjiv Bhatnagar, Founder and Mentor of The Royal Escape, Jaipur, India:
How will people travel after the corona virus fear?
- Travellers will stay in the country where they live. International travel might not be preferred at the beginning, due to the thoughts of staying closer to the safety of home.
- Vacations in lesser crowded places, yet serene and of tourist importance, and road trips might be preferred over the flight or cruise.
- The duration of vacations could become shorter until the economy recovers. It means that people could choose a long weekend over long vacation.
Will the travel industry come back from coronavirus?
Travel after Corona will definitely come back faster than anyone expects.
Despite the challenges, it won’t be this way forever.
Travel and tourism is a highly resilient industry that has come back again and again from pandemics, wars, terrorist attacks and natural disasters.
What will travel be like after corona virus in India?
In India, facilities are opening gradually for travel and tourism – like domestic flights, interstate borders, hotels, restaurants, indoor & outdoor amusement parks, beaches, etc. An aggressive corona virus rescue program is expected to be immediately launched when all-clear signals are given.
For most destinations, the first step to recovery will be discounted. However, travellers should not expect a sharp discount. The best strategy may be to provide services that add more value in terms of sought experiences along with Covid19 safety norms than cheap prices.
Examples seen in the past would be a hotel offering free meals with room purchase and maybe even packaging in attraction tickets. Instead of looking for the cheapest price, travellers would be looking for the best value. We reckon, there are going to be plenty of high-value travel packages available in times to come.
Online vs Human Connection
One of the lessons of the Covid19 crisis has been the importance of human connection when booking travel packages.
The horror stories are mounting of travellers who booked their journeys with an online travel agency — like Orbitz, Travelocity, Hotels.com, Agoda and many others — only to be unable to contact them, make changes or get refunds when their trips were cancelled.
And even worse, there are fees and hidden charges often imposed by these online agencies.
The almost non-existence in many cases of customer support, coupled with the fees and charges, brings many of us back to the future and the benefits of booking directly with a human travel agent, who can often act as your advocate when things go wrong.
While people are not rushing to their nearest travel agent to book an exotic trip, the role of travel agents remains important.
During their time in lockdown, travelers are still dreaming of packing their bags and escaping to exotic destinations and will need professional help once borders open.
Few reasons why “Human Connection” travel agents are still relevant in a Covid-19 World:
- They keep your travel dreams alive
Many travellers have had to put their travel dreams on hold due to the pandemic. Special trips like birthday celebrations, honeymoons and other leisure trips were postponed.
By postponing rather than cancelling, travel advisors kept clients’ travel dreams alive, while forming a connection with them on a whole new level.
Travel advisors have made it their mission to overcome the obstacles of amending entire itineraries, minimising cancellation penalties and keeping clients hopeful at the prospect of realising their travel dreams in the future, post-Covid-19.
- They suggest you the best destinations after knowing your travel needs
Travelling in 2020 brings a whole set of new complications as countries continuously change and adapt to regulations to accommodate the impacts of Covid-19.
Having a travel advisor by your side can go a long way in making sure you make the right decisions for your next holiday. These experts have a wealth of destination information that reaches well beyond the pandemic.
- They help you prepare for a new and different travel experience
Travel will eventually return, and people across the World will once again explore other cultures and expand their horizons. However, the travel experience may be significantly different.
Airports have since become ‘touch less’ environments, and travellers could be asked to produce ‘health passports’ to travel to certain destinations.
The changes are endless and will no doubt be daunting for prospective travellers.
We, at The Royal Escape, believe this is where the travel advisor plays a valuable role. We are putting a lot of time and effort in personal services by knowing our client’s exact travel requirements, providing them with information that is factually correct and guiding them through the new travel process.
- They negotiate savings and perks on your behalf
Covid-19 has led to an unprecedented cash crunch that has left many South Africans with next to no disposable income.
The good news is that travel advisors often have access to deals that the average person doesn’t. As a result of the volume in which they purchase travel and the relationships they have built with suppliers, they can often offer you valuable savings on your holiday
Summarized note on travelling after the corona virus outbreak:
There is no doubt that people will travel after corona virus. But how? We can answer this question with a short summary of the article.
Travellers will now investigate good prices but will focus more on values. The good news is that if people find a good price for their preferred destination, they won’t hesitate to make a reservation.
One point that travellers will pay attention to is that they will stay away from unknown operators and their unrealistic cheap offers. As we know, many accommodation and flight tickets were cancelled due to corona virus and many people were victims of this situation. Research shows that travellers will pay more attention to travel insurance and cancellation policies of travel packages to avoid the same situations again.
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