Hey buddy, I definitely think that the travel we have known and become used to will no longer be the same again. Travel will become a lot more expensive as airlines around the world fumble to keep themselves afloat. Governments are using printed hyperinflation inducing cash to feed airlines. There is the inevitability of many airlines dropping off the map and supply is much less than the demand will mean that flight prices will increase exponentially.
I'm in NZ, but planned to be in Argentina or Chile now. I'd have been able to fly direct to Santiago or Buenos Aires with my motorbike loaded as freight on the same flight. I don't see either of those routes opening up for years - the airlines will be focussed on the more profitable routes so I'll need to fly to LA and then work my way south. That'll be expensive, time-consuming, and difficult for a regular tourist. I doubt we'll be able to manage it.
First, they will have to get past the issue of wearing masks for hours at airports and in the planes. I probably will not fly for any reason until that nonsense is over. Then, they will have to figure out how to get businesspeople to travel again. Tourism might spring back, but business travel may never recover. I thought this about business travel after 9/11, but it eventually came back because we did not have the video conferencing technology and it was still unfamiliar to many businesspeople. That situation has changed dramatically, of course. Now, employees are used to working remotely, there are virtual conferences (still being figured out, of course) and more. Not sure what percentage of all travel that business travel comprises, but I do not see it ever coming back to anywhere close to what it had been. Here in the U.S., I feel that the airline industry is a matter of national security, so the government may very well have to bail it out. That could lead back to it being a government regulated industry like it was prior to Reagan de-regulating it. If that is the case, flying will be much more expensive and that will also reduce businesspeople's appetite for travel. I would not want to be an airline sales rep, right now.
Some have this irrational fear that they won't travel even after being vaccinated (and they are not a small %), which will continue to negatively impact tourism. Some large cities in EU thrived exclusively on tourism (take Madrid or Rome), hard to imagine that they will ever recover.
I am not sure about tourism, overall, but I suspect that the cruise lines are in real trouble. Remember what happened to thousands of their passengers when the virus broke out on board multiple ships early in 2020? Trapped in these floating prisons for weeks and weeks and treated like lepers when arriving in port. And, new viruses break out regularly. Who in their right mind would get on a ship for a one-week cruise with the risk of being locked down in the ship for 6+ weeks, instead, because a new virus has been discovered and a fellow passenger has tested positive? Keep in mind that if the ship cannot return to port every week to remove the week's trash, waste etc., and then re-stock food and other supplies, the boat turns into a floating garbage scow with miserable living conditions.
He claims tourism made 12% of Spain's GDP. It's been a ghost town and it hasn't improved one bit over the last 6 months. When it comes to cruise ships I see them as large tin cans full of human excrements.
I reckon it will be a very long time, but does seem like they are taking some positive steps in the right direction.
Duh. ANYTHING that limits the supply of anything ALWAYS pushes up the price. Not going to happen unless they chain me down against my will. That is coming from a dude that has a 2.6% chance of dying from CV if infected by it. The average person has LESS than a 0.01% chance of dying if infected.
If I do it, it will be for cosmetic reasons much like wearing masks. I wear masks not because they do anything (especially the way I use them) but it shuts up the Karens out there and, therefore, minimizes any potential contact with them. And I live in a Fake News-fed, "covid is worse than ebola" blue state, so the Karens are here in full force. For the vaccine, I can envision some clients or prospects or other such business contacts asking if I have been vaccinated before agreeing to a physical meeting and I suspect that it will be required to get on a plane. So, I may very well end up getting one, but I will hold out for a single shot variety and also until I am sure that I will need it cosmetically. This is in keeping with my general vaccine philosophy, btw, as I do not do the flu shot, the pneumonia shot, the shingles shot, etc.
I have gotten the tetanus shot and the boosters and also the childhood vaccines (polio, etc.) I am not an anti-vaxxer, per se. I just don't see the need for me to get the ones that I listed above. On the other hand, my wife just got her pneumonia vaccine and will be getting the covid vaccine after a waiting period. The influenza virus sent her to the hospital a couple of years ago, so she needs all the help that she can get. However, she has to be careful and not get the Pfizer vaccine because she has a shellfish allergy. And, if they ever come up an anti-calorie vaccine that would allow me to eat chocolate or other goodies all day long and not gain weight, I would be fighting anyone and everyone to be first in line!
Just how fat are you anyway? With all your constant talk about dieting, I am slowly getting a vision of you being well over 300 pounds.