- What will travel look like in the future? We asked the experts.
How long is still unknown. Elizabeth Becker, author of Overbooked: The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism, notes that the pandemic “decimated” the $8 trillion global travel industry overnight. “Those essential pillars of 21st-century global travel—open borders, open destinations, and visa-free travel—won’t return in the short term or even medium term,” she says.
What does that mean for the future of travel? Despite the turbulence, experts are seeing blue skies. Bruce Poon Tip, author of Unlearn: The Year the Earth Stood Still and the founder of travel company G Adventures, says not only will we travel again, we’ll do it better. “I still believe travel can be the biggest distributor of wealth the world has ever seen,” he says. “This pause gives us the gift of time to consider how we can travel more consciously.”
Comments
Interesting how few countries’ borders are open to Americans. I wonder if the US eliminated visas and had an open door policy how many people would be on aircraft to enter? I am sure more than those willing to go to China, North Korea , Russia or Iran. Even with the various problems in the US, the 10 million illegal residents including some Guyanese, would agree that the US remains a good place to live or they would leave.