With Covid-19 protocols and safety measures being relaxed, and the travel industry seeing a great increase in holiday bookings (including huge breakthroughs in flight bookings) it is now time to invest in unique experiences for travel industry businesses to sell strongly.
After almost a ‘two-year-standstill’, travelers are returning their confidence to travel to long-distance regions, go on long family trips and explore new untapped destinations. They want to have their lives disrupted by the pandemic back to normal, and even beyond. Guided tours are also coming back slowly at least according to the agency which is getting their Sarajevo tours back on track.
In 2021 we have seen many small businesses and big brands offering free rapid lateral flow tests or even PCRs to their guests because many travelers would be demotivated if forced to fork out for these as well. Many companies introduced trips close to home – exploring local outdoors, a road trip to a national park with your own car, and going to private or isolated places (read sanitized) became rather popular during the pandemic outbreak.
Accommodation properties perceived as cleaner and more isolated are more popular as travelers feel safer. Therefore, some big brands and hotels have operated as private villas and homes – they were offering the entire floor to individual guests/families and leaving a lot of hotel rooms empty, paying additional attention to sanitization while arranging contactless food deliveries, and similar. Some private rentals went a step further to creating working holiday conditions by combining isolated, private accommodation with high-speed internet and workspace while servicing other vacation amenities in a contactless manner.
Many service providers market their services by placing priority on proper COVID-19 measures and a COVID-friendly approach. Road trips, safaris, weekend getaways and longer “private-resort” holidays are also on the rise.
When it comes to conference tourism, success is achieved through organizing to create formats with safe in-person interaction with many investing in technology to enable virtual participation.
Nowadays, insurance companies offer special travel “insurance”. For those who are still in the “wait-and-see-mode” some companies offer annual or 24-month valid vouchers. Those are good options for those who are unable to make plans or bookings three to four months ahead.
