Budget Slow Travel

By Patrick Robertson

Tourism travel has changed dramatically as a result of the Covid pandemic.

When the pandemic was first declared worldwide tourism travel came to a quick halt. Two years into the pandemic, tourism travel is starting up again. In some areas, tourist visits are exceeding pre-pandemic numbers.

The biggest change that we have seen is the movement to domestic travel.

More people are choosing not to go on international or even national vacations. They are instead choosing local domestic travel.

Expect higher accommodation and flight prices ramping up to the summer. With restrictions on event sizes, family and friends are renting large places to bring everyone together. That will drive up the cost of renting those already expensive places.

When travelling international it is imperative to understand the arriving and departing health restrictions and procedures.

Each country has its own admission requirements that must be followed to the letter. Canada in turn has its own reentry requirements for each country you are departing from. Failure to comply will result in major problems; detention and quarantine for sure and denied reentry a good possibility.

Another major hurdle with air travel right now is flight cancellations. The frequency has increased as more airline staff are getting sick. There is a severe staff shortage throughout the industry. Cancelled and delayed flights across all airlines are frequent. Be prepared for it happening to you as it is a roll of the die.

Part of travel now is to plan as if you have to spend a week or two extra as a result of Covid restrictions. For people who have to get back to work that is a major planning problem. For those who don’t it is a financial problem. You may now have to pay $500 a night for accommodation instead of the package deal price of $200. Every 10 days is $5,000.

Insurance is even more important than before. There are so many more things that can go wrong while travelling, especially international.

Now we need Covid insurance in case we contract it on a trip. We need broader and more expensive cancellation insurances for flights and accommodations that allow you to cancel for any reason. And you need long-term living expense insurance if you get stuck where you are visiting. All of this adds to your trip cost. I cringe when I hear about people travelling without the proper insurance.

On the positive side accommodation prices and crowds are all down since before the pandemic. When Thailand reopened in July, hotel rooms were being offered for $1 a night. In the middle of the pandemic, international travel to Thailand went from 40 million to a hundred thousand. The usually crowded places were deserted. Friends of mine who were in Italy in the fall, loved the uncrowded areas. The only tourists they encountered were local tourists. It felt like Italy of old before mass tourism.

In every cloud is a silver lining.

The cloud created by the Covid pandemic is going to be over us for some time to come if past pandemics are any indication. This pandemic is going to be a defining moment in many peoples’ lives as we learn to live with the continually mutating viral particle that in a short few months brought the world to its knees. We are a resilient species. Life will carry on. Travel will begin again. There are lots of adventures ahead.

– Patrick Robertson is a travel writer and long-time resident of Fernie. He is an expert in planning independent travel and finding budget travel deals. Visit his Tool page at www.budgetslowtravel.com/tools for powerful planning tools to book your whole trip. Like him on Facebook for weekly tips.

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