TRAVELLING AFTER CORONAVIRUS

The whole world is going through one of the most complicated periods of the modern era, a pandemic that puts the structure of our society in serious and profound difficulty. All sectors are experiencing major changes, from healthcare to industries, obviously to tourism. Among the few certainties that coronavirus gives us, there is the awareness that all this is just passing through. It is the history of human being, always able to resist, adapt and evolve even in far more serious situations. Another sure thing is that our lives will still suffer a shock, maybe they will be only small details, but the everyday life that we will rediscover (soon, hopefully!) Will never be the same as that of a few weeks ago.

In this article we want to analyze what it will mean to travel in Italy after the coronavirus: we will ask ourselves questions to which we will try to answer, we will hypothesize some scenarios and propose new ideas and travel approaches.

The obvious but necessary premise is that everything you read reflects only our point of view. There is no scientific basis, it is simply a picture of how we imagine the future of travelling.

WHAT WILL THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PHASES WE WILL HAVE TO FACE IN RELATION TO TRAVELING?

Fear: it is normal that at this moment nobody is concretely thinking about traveling. Fear rhymes with wisdom, as new outbreaks are continually occurring in various countries.

Uncertainty: when the situation seems to be under control, we will begin to dream of traveling, it will be our lifeblood. However, we will look around to find out what the safe areas are, the risks that still exist and the limitations. Let’s say that with uncertainty a recovery phase begins, but tomorrow is not yet clear.

Caution: the scenario is now increasingly manageable, the virus is almost completely defeated, perhaps we are close to a vaccine. Traveling is a concrete thought, but caution will rightly be a brake for a while longer.

Recovery: the journey has been rooted in us since ancient times, we are unable to curb our desire for discovery. Now we can finally return to explore the world, Italy can only be at the top of the list! It is possible and desirable that the travel sector, the first to be severely affected by the pandemic, will start up again as soon as conditions permit.

WHEN WILL A TRIP TO ITALY BE POSSIBLE?

Difficult to make predictions, it is clear no one has yet the means to determine it exactly. However, we can say that Italy was the first nation to suffer from large-scale contagion after China, so it implemented control and prevention measures as early as the first days of March. As a result, it will be one of the first countries to emerge from the crisis. The existing restrictive decree is valid until April 13th, common thought is that it will be extended for the whole month. If the progress of the last few days continues, May will be the month in which “normal” life is gradually resumed. We indicate the summer season (more July than June) as a new start to travel in Italy.

WHAT WILL BE THE MAJOR CHANGES COMPARED TO THE PRE-CORONAVIRUS APPROACHES?

Airport checks: certainly, when we can resume traveling, we will be subjected to deeper health checks at the airport. All in all, this will not be a problem, indeed, it will be useful. The only slight sore point is that we will be queuing more.

Airlines: they are among the most affected companies by coronavirus. At this moment the air traffic is almost zero and with certainty these weeks will leave an open wound. Some will fail, new ones will arise, radically change the approach and communication with customers. It will be a field to be understood and discovered.

OTAs (online travel agencies): like airlines, Booking, Expedia and other online travel agencies (OTA) are also suffering enormous damage. Before the pandemic, they were the leaders of tourism sector, controlling communication, the approach, the rules and even the wishes of consumers. Coronavirus could upset this world, OTAs could collapse and encourage the development of new forms of research and booking of stays.

Communication and hotels promotions: the world of hotels, till now “slaves” of the policies imposed by the giant companies, is automatically linked to the OTAs crisis. For them it is a great opportunity to disintermediate by directly addressing the final consumer. It will not be easy, we live in a world that moves at great speed: hotels will have to find fast, captivating and user-friendly ways to get travelers used to not turning to OTAs, saving millions in commissions.

WHAT WILL BE THE PITFALLS?

For the final consumer, the main pitfall will be confusion. If the world of tourism will really live profound changes, there will be chaos at first. Thousands of offers, proposals and new ways of doing; we could find ourselves in a maze from which it is difficult to come out with what we were looking for. Until today the process was simple and consolidated: site to buy flights, OTA to choose hotels and experiences to do. For the less practical or more demanding there was the travel agency that took care of everything. These procedures could radically change or even disappear.

WHAT WILL THE ADVANTAGES BE?

After a crisis there is always a recovery. Great opportunities are created, those who will seize the opportunity at the right time, will dictate the rules of travel in the coming years. For the final consumer, this potentially translates into a greater variety of offers, interesting new proposals, more flexible and tailor-made policies.

HOW CAN A TRAVEL DESIGNER HELPS YOU? 

Essentially, a travel designer is the one who takes care of avoiding problems and exploiting advantages. Our work develops in various phases: we start with interviews during which we get to know each other and begin to lay the foundations of the journey, evaluating important factors such as period, duration and budget. We then move on to drafting some itineraries tailored to the clients wishes, Italy is so full of wonders that the right programming is essential to live them to the fullest. We then take care of hotel reservations, transport and experiences, doing in-depth research and taking advantage of consolidated relationships with other partners. Finally, we assist the customer in every aspect, before, after and during the trip.

WHY PLAN A TRIP TO ITALY NOW?

Nowadays the prices of flights and hotels have certainly dropped or at least stopped compared to the classic trend. It is the time to take advantage of to plan a trip to Italy for end of the summer or autumn 2020 and for the season 2021. Basically, there is nothing to lose, since everything can be canceled without paying a penny up to few days from the beginning of the trip. Contact us and we will talk about it together according to your needs.