With this pandemic, we — as a society — have had to change the way we look at many different situations. The way we look at restaurants, public transit, family gatherings, and travel have all changed. For starters, many travellers are skeptical of travel in the near future let alone a few years down the road. Their fears lie with the safety of travel, transmission of the virus, restrictions, as well as health and safety of others. Although travel hasn’t completely come to a halt, it has definitely been reduced significantly.
The frequency of travel will most likely be changed after the pandemic. For some people, they will be travelling every chance they get as they feel they have missed out on adventure and travel having been in lockdown. For others, however, they may never feel safe to travel in the near to mid future. Fearing the worst, they may just stick locally and stay with what they know.
Hot travel destinations may also change. Old tourist hot spots may not be as busy, as those looking to travel may not want to be around so many people. Travel decisions may likely revolve around population density as well as how popular the destination is. That being said, there are those who won’t care about either of those things and will travel like normal.
The duration of stay could possibly see getting longer on average. During this pandemic, such OTAs like Airbnb have instituted longer term stays (28 days or more) in order to combat the spread of COVID and reduce the frequency of unique Airbnb visits. Because of this, some property owners may continue with this as they may like consistency and added precaution.
COVID has shaped the way the world currently operates and will continue to shape how the world operates in the future. Travel is no different, and the trends we’ve seen recently will most likely continue into the future.
