Travel & Tourism Industry remains near the precarious edge of the most transformative upheaval ever. Airlines have adopted new rules & regulations, Hotels are sanitizing their whole properties and coming up with new innovative ideas and tariff structures. The most affected are the regular workers & staff of the industry and many challenges lie ahead of them. Soon Tourists & Travelers’ perspective of their travel is going to change drastically and the Tourism Vendors have to adapt to new innovative ways to implement their strategies & planning.

However, the Travel & Tourism industry will recover at its own pace and people will start traveling soon, starting with essential travel and followed by leisure. Below I have addressed a few possibilities of the Travel trends that might come into play once the industry opens up post-COVID.

   1.     The travel industry may look inwards, be more Domestic coordinated. Fortunately, traditional domestic travel destinations like Goa, Sikkim, Ladakh, Uttarkhand, Andamans, Himanchal even Pondicherry have remained to a great extent inactive to the infection. Most of the Domestic traffic will switch to destinations like these rather than International destinations.

   2.     Business Travel will lessen drastically soon. Corporate meetings and interactions with staff & clients have already started on the Online Platform like Zoom, Skype, etc. and more platforms are coming into play to make these meetings more effective.

Only essential business travel will progress where certain important deals or tie-ups needs to happen that cannot be effectively done on these online platforms.

   3.   Air Travel will become more expensive as fewer travelers will fly, so the airline ticket prices will keep on regulating. Many Airlines may not increase the prices drastically but they will increase the prices of Extra baggage allowances, travel insurance, etc. Airports will be less crowded that would surely impact all the shops inside the airport.

 4.     Group travel will reduce for sure as people will want to avoid being in the groups where the risk is higher of attracting any kind of disease through social contact. People will prefer to travel individually with families rather than any kind of group. Domestic Cruises would be given more attention and tourists would opt for more of that.

 5. Most huge Global events have already been canceled like the Olympics, Wimbledon, US Open, IPL…Big conferences, conventions, seminars, festivals started to get canceled in February itself as the COVID pandemic accelerated all of a sudden. Google I/O, Facebook F8, ITB Berlin, Expo 2020, Geneva Motor show, etc. Everything is postponed or canceled. It will take a long time for these global events to start in the same way as before with packed audiences. Some of the Sports events might happen behind closed doors with a virtual audience to keep some kind of show running.

6. Lesser number of students might go abroad to examine. Some are already going to classes carefully today. Many are sitting around with no snippet of data on the continuation of terms. Many may not return this year. Online Education will get a huge boost and many students would prefer to study from their homes for some time. School trips will evaporate. The safety of the students will be given more preference.

7.     Senior citizen travel would not happen immediately as this particular group will surely avoid traveling as they are the most vulnerable to the virus. Later on, even if they have to travel they would have to take strict precautions.

 8.     Destination Weddings will go for a toss and people will avoid large gatherings and also avoid travel. They would rather prefer to have a local wedding with fewer friends and family.

9. The focus will be given more to Adventure tours like cycling, trekking, nature walks, etc. rather than to fancy sightseeing, visit monuments….

10.   Religious Tourism will drop as the Government has already put a curb to mass gatherings and people are praying right from their home. Even Global places like Mecca would not have mass gatherings in near future.

 Future travel will happen, tourists will holiday in big numbers, and Business will start as usual but with the new norms. Social distancing, hygiene, health, safety will be the top priority and more focus will be given to Brands & Value.  MUST-READ:  Precautions to take while flying traveling during a pandemic .

The future of travel is very much secured. The future of traveling & future travelers is bound to increase once proper measures and precautions are taken. Eventually, the Travel & Tourism Industry will again come to the top as before once the Corona vaccine is out.