There’s a lot of questions being asked around what can be expected in travel following a return to normal when the spread of the coronavirus slows and countries begin to reopen their borders and allow travel once again – there are already issues rising as airlines begin to refuse to issue refunds on flights that have been cancelled and the same airlines begin to lay off large numbers of workers as schemes to retain those workers aren’t enough as an extended period of time without travel has left many in a very difficult position.
The same questions are also being asked regarding the logistics of travel – with social distancing rules becoming a norm, six feet apart with face masks and gloves probably becoming a day to day sight for the foreseeable future there are expectations that flights will experience a huge delay with boarding times and an increasing in ticket costs – these changes many feel may also impact the aviation industry which is already hugely struggling currently.
The same may also be found within public transport – fear surrounding the virus may lead to a reduction in busy trains and busses as many find an alternative to keep up with social distancing – currently there’s a dramatic decrease in road traffic as many remain at home for work, but there is a small expectation that as many get back to their daily working routine and try to avoid crowded public transport that there will be a huge surge in road traffic once again, the efforts made to reduce pollution would be completely reversed as the roads once again fill.
When looking at popular travel locations following the return to normalcy is also looking shaky – popular holiday locations that bring large groups of people together in to large crowds such as Vegas may struggle to once again find the crowds that it once did, many turn to casinos not on gamstop from their mobile devices to fill the urge, but these same people may be unwilling to visit a crowded location where strangers are touching the same machines without any certainty around the safety of doing so. The same can be said for even more excluded getaways as it would be difficult to judge whether or not safety precautions were put in place to ensure protection of new visitors.
Many experts will be looking at data and monitoring changes within travel in the months following COVID-19, initial data is difficult to draw too much from as the current travel information is heavily skewed by lockdown measures, but the expectation is that we will see a large change within travel as a whole within coming months, and that any expectation of things to return largely to the way they had been as perhaps too optimistic as the social change has already largely begun – travel arrangements will have to quickly change to match these social changes, or many expect they will
