COVID-19 has impacted every life across the globe. For many this has resulted in a cancelled holiday, others experience the greatest loss of all, the loss of a loved one. No matter what country you live in, what industry you work in or how you go about living your life, this silent killer has had a visible impact on your everyday routine.
The worst affected are those who operate within the travel industry. Specifically, the men and women who rely on our desire to travel as a source of income for their families. With the dramatic decrease in demand for holidays, there is now practically no need for coaches drivers, train conductors or pilots and flight staff.
These are very uncertain times. Luckily, the one thing that we can be certain about is that life will go on. With this comes a spark of hope for those who have lost their jobs and income at the mercy of this pandemic.
How Has Flight Cancellations Demolished The Demand For Travel?
Airlines were already on the ropes, long before this global pandemic arrived. Just this year Flybee collapsed resulting in thousands of job losses and a huge wake-up call to the world. It is now crystal clear, not even the greats of the airline industry are not financially immune to a lack of demand.
Then the Coronavirus pandemic hit the world. An event that was going to make dramatic changes to the way this industry as a whole operates. Airline companies such as Ryanair and Easyjet were forced to ground the majority of their fleets as the international travel restrictions surged. Borders closed and the dreams of going abroad this summer came crashing down in front of our eyes.
This dramatic decrease in demand for holidays resulted in coach hire companies in our major cities having to follow the same trend. With reduced flights comes a reduced need for coach hire and airport transfers. Coach hire in Taunton has now become extremely difficult to find as businesses don’t have the financial support to keep themselves running. Many drivers have had to be placed on temporary leave or furlough. Never in our lifetimes have the travel industry has a whole has never seen such a dramatic drop in demand.
Where Are We Not At In The Pandemic Lifecycle?
We are now living within the second peak of this Pandemic, with this comes better preparation and infrastructure in place to help deal with the effects and most importantly of all, save lives. In terms of the effects this is having on the travel industry, well it’s fair to say we are far from perfection. Compared to last year, demand is definitely down, one positive to take away is that more flights are operating at the moment than when the pandemic first shook the world.
What Does The Future of The Travel Industry Look Like?
At this moment in time, the future of the travel industry is far from certain. International travel restrictions will be the leading factor that limits the recovery of the industry and whilst many counties have their borders shut to all leisure travel it looks like we are still a long way off a complete bounceback. It is likely that by next year international travel should pick up again with destinations within Europe offering airbridges to help kickstart the economy and get the ball rolling again.
National travel is one of the largest sectors that we rely on year after year to keep our businesses running and allow us to get to the places we need to go. Over the years couple of months, we would expect a slow pick up of both commercial and domestic travel. With the holiday season coming up many will be purchasing coach tickets and train tickets to see family and spend some time with their loved ones. We can just only hope that things continue on this path.
Summary of The Coronavirus Pandemic’s Impact On Travel
Both National and International travel has had to deal with some of the most dramatic changes to ever to be seen in history. Whilst many companies have suffered, others have learnt to adapt and thrive during these challenging times. Going forward we hope to see the recovery this industry deserves but all is heavily reliant on the progress being made battling this disease.
