THE FUTURE OF TRAVEL Stories and studies about the future of travel are rolling across my laptop every day. Sometimes every hour. We’re all curious about what the future looks like for air travel, hotels, destinations and cruise lines. Not to mention travel agents and travel journalists like me. With that in mind, and given my 11 years as a full-time travel writer and now 42-year (yikes) career as a full-time journalist, I’m going to be writing a “FUTURE OF TRAVEL” blog pretty much every weekday, or maybe every day, from now until we get a better picture of what’s Read more
Coronavirus
Several stories I’ve read and a webinar I listened to today have me thinking more about what the future of travel will look like. I wish I could be more encouraging, but I’m finding a lot of mixed messages. I do think people will have a pent-up desire to get out there and explore, but I also realize all of us who do so will find a world that’s quite different from the one we’re used to. And I think companies – airlines, hotels, car rental companies and most definitely the cruise industry – will have to make major adjustments. Read more
A rebound will come some day. But I think it will take quite a long time before travel is back to normal. Given what’s been happening with social or physical distancing, we’re not going to flick a switch on July 1 (or whenever) and go back to crowded airports and jam-packed airplanes. Some things will simply have to change. Writing in the Globe and Mail recently, esteemed urbanist Richard Florida talked about new ways being needed to run airport check-in counters, baggage carousels and airlines themselves. Further to that, Delta Airlines today issued a statement saying that, starting April 13 Read more
I saw a story in the Toronto Star (my employer for 32 years) on Friday that said Canadian and Ontario tourism folks are thinking of pulling some of their proposed spending from Asia and other overseas markets and focusing instead on Canada and the U.S. Given the empty planes and hotels that we’re seeing around the world, that’s probably a good call. After all, it’s a lot easier to control your environment if you drive somewhere, particularly if you drive to a remote part of the country or to place where you’re enjoying the great outdoors, relatively free from any Read more
