by Jim Byers
Last updated: 5:44 PM ET, Thu March 18, 2021
G Adventures founder Bruce Poon Tip says he thinks travel is ready for a rebound.
Speaking on a Zoom call to mark one year of a pandemic that has shaken the travel world to its foundations, Poon Tip said he found it hard to predict where things were going for quite a long while. Like many observers, he hoped the crisis might last only a few months.
It's been a tough slog, but a year after the world began to close its borders Poon Tip sees hope on the horizon.
He noted that vaccine passports are being talked about by the European Union and that many European countries are hoping to open so they can capitalize on the summer season. Greece has said it hopes to open for tourists on May 14, and both Spain and Portugal have sounded optimistic tones.
"I think we've hit bottom, and for the first time we can look forward," Poon Tip said. "It's an exciting time for the industry."
G Adventures recently conducted a global survey and found that 31% of respondents want to travel within three months of being inoculated. A full 46% want to travel within six months of being vaccinated.
"I think there's going to be a very quick rebound," Poon Tip said.
It's good news, but he also suggested the recovery might yet take some time. Poon Tip said the next couple months could be slow, but that things should pick up in late summer.
The G Adventures survey found that 59% of folks around the world say lockdowns have made them want to travel more.
Poon Tip said he doesn't see travel getting more expensive in the short term, as companies are offering iscounts and giving customers plenty of flexibility to rebook trips if needed. He said he thinks prices will go up in the mid-term, but then settle down again over the long run.
He also noted that many customers are booking eight to nine months in advance, while others are booking only a month out.
Active vacations, bucket list trips and milestone holidays are likely to be big when travel rebounds further, Poon Tip said, noting that G Adventures has had lots of inquiries about hiking the Inca Trail in Peru or hiking Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa.
He also said travellers want to see their dollars go to helping people in local communities, and that many travellers will be taking longer trips or more trips that blend work and holidays.
G Adventures ran successful trips to Costa Rica and Croatia last fall. Poon Tip said they recently had trips to Egypt and Morocco, with plenty of health and safety protocols in place, and that the reviews were outstanding.
Asked about vaccine passports, Poon Tip said many countries for years have required travellers to prove they've been vaccinated against diseases such as yellow fever.
"I think it's a great thing," he said. "But they need to be standardized."
Some travel lovers still feel reluctant about making that trip to the airport. But Poon Tip said he thinks that will change once more people get their vaccines.
Right now there's still some hesitancy for folks to travel. But Poon Tip said that should change as more and more people get their vaccines.
"I think the thing everyone's talking about now is the fact that there's going to be a quick return. There's going to be a tipping point where people just decide they want to travel."
Topics From This Article to Explore
