What is considered safe and smart travel? We found out
Over the past few months, more people have become vaccinated. Besides, as the daily infection rate is gradually under control, people are certainly feeling more comfortable and open with travel again. But the real questions are, “Where will people go?” “When will people go?” Safe and smart travel is easier said than done.
Just the thoughts of leaving home and finally going on a trip sound exciting. However, it is not always so easy. At the present time, in most countries, traveling is still under various restrictions. Open travel where everything is abundantly comfortable is not always here at the moment.
People, additionally, are more aware of public health issues and more prompted to take precautions to assure personal safety in the first place.
So where do people want to go?
This is a good question. After working from home and having a staycation for more than a year, people just want to get out and see the world that they have missed out on. We know.
But now that most places are re-opened, where will people go? Do they travel domestically or internationally? Additionally, what kind of transportation do they take? What kind of precautions do they take for the crucial goal of safe and smart travel.
Early this year, Chris M. Walsh did a travel survey on 452 avid travelers (ages between 18 and 65) who live in America.
According to the results, 30 percent of respondents described their preferred destinations are national parks and mountains, 24 percent said beaches while 22 percent said big cities. At the same time, 60 percent of respondents said that they would travel by car, 34 percent voted for a plane.
We can clearly see that people were more inclined to go on road trips and head to places that have fewer people in general.
But safe and smart travel isn’t always easy
International vacation might still sound a little iffy since different countries have different policies in their travel industries for visitors.
However, domestic travel has definitely become more convenient and less restrictive for Americans. Because of the pandemic, according to the NPS, a total of 237 million visitors made their way to the national parks in 2020. The number of visitors will likely increase drastically this summer.
The most-visited national parks are Great Smoky Mountain National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, Rockey Mountain National Park, Zion National Park, Yellowstone National Park, etc.
The parks have been so overcrowded this year that some visitors even got turned away because the parking lots were hitting their limits. Camping and lodging sites are also overbooked as well. Check out the best hotels for kids in Washington DC.
When will people travel?
Figuring out when to travel is perhaps even a tougher job than deciding where to go. There are a lot of things to consider before going to places nowadays. We get that.
Traveling is not as simple as it was before the pandemic. We can’t just buy tickets and fly to any place we want. Before setting up the leaving dates, we will also need to check out the local Covid-19 policies.
For example, are travelers required to provide a negative Covid testing report 2-3 days before they arrive? Do travelers need to be quarantined when they arrive? Are face masks required in local public spaces? These are all questions travelers must ask before traveling, which, obviously, is new.
Additionally, local infection rate, as well as personal vaccination status, are the other factors people should think about as well. When you want safe and smart travel, this is the type of legwork that must go in beforehand. But it’s almost always worth it in the end.
What is safe and smart travel going to look like going forward?
A lot of people have already started traveling again. Not being able to travel for a year unquestionably bottles up people’s desire to travel again even more. Planning a new trip is a way to cope with reality while still having an intention to reclaim normalcy.
There are several reasons for the booming travel industry this year. The pandemic indeed ‘immobilized’ people, but at the same time, led to many great deals that have never happened before. For example, flight tickets, hotels, and Airbnb are much cheaper than usual. The overall travel expenditure can be really low in some cases now.
However, because people have also other things to worry about on their minds, they don’t just take off because everything becomes less pricy. Now, it’s up to the industry to give potential travelers a push to make them take action. Prospective travelers need to know that their travel can be comfortable and open to all of their wishes.
Tourism is back, but the Coronavirus isn’t leaving
More and more people have got their vaccinations. Yet, even though the vaccine does give us a layer of protection, is it really safe to say that we are 100% protected now?
The original strain of Coronavirus is slowly conquered due to medical breakthroughs, but new threats also start to emerge. Recently, a new Delta variant has invaded and rapidly expanded.
However, the majority American public seems to be still unaware of the severity of this new variant and what it can do to our health. Based on the available scientific reports out there, the Delta variant is more deadly and transmissible. Moreover, vaccinated people can still contract the new variant and transmit it to other people.
Therefore, we should definitely be more careful if we want our travel plans to be as comfortable and open as possible. The current vaccine is not a panacea; no vaccine can fully protect against any Covid-19 variant.
You never know if who you interact with daily has already been in contact with the Delta variant. It’s always good to be a bit more cautious since we should all know better that we are the only ones responsible for our own safety.