It has been a summer of constant changes to travel rules and regulations with countries going in and out of favour as the latest twists and turns of the pandemic have continued to play out. Quarantine, Covid-testing and the rather unnerving creation of green and amber ‘watchlists’ have been unwanted roadblocks for those getting away on their travels.
These past few weeks however have felt suddenly quite different and the mood within the travel industry is noticeably changing.
Here at Nomadic Travel, we’re now receiving visitors in person regularly each day again and clients are not discussing Covid anymore but wanting to talk about their travel plans in earnest instead. Many are booking for immediate travel, perhaps feeling that now is finally the time to re-start, whilst others are making reservations for 2022 with confidence that their trips will be able to go ahead as the world becomes vaccinated in ever greater numbers.
Meanwhile, our tour operator partners confirm this upswing by reporting a marked acceleration in bookings. Across travel the big theme these past few weeks is of things opening up with airlines re-starting services and countries ready to welcome visitors again. As an example of how much things have moved on, G Adventures are now running a remarkable 650 trip departures during September and October across 5 continents.
This week’s very welcome suggestion from the Government that the traffic light system may be scrapped later this month with only a ‘red list’ of countries remaining off-limits, gives further notice that things are becoming much more straightforward.
So, yes – quiet in the back, please – we are finally getting there!
Nomadic Travel Survey Results
Thank you to all who took part in our ‘travel attitudes’ survey earlier this summer which we conducted in conjunction with the Association of Independent Tour Operators.
The results underline how resilient our clients are with the most striking response being that a total 94% of respondents indicated they will either be ‘amongst the first to travel again’ post-Covid (20%) or will be back travelling again ‘once the time feels right’ (74%). Only 1% indicate they are unlikely to travel again following the pandemic.
Further, to reflect how robust our customers feel about their travel plans, 41% of you say you will be doing the same amount of travelling post-Covid as you did before and 29% say you will be doing more.
Meanwhile, the two most important factors that affect how comfortable people feel about travelling again is firstly, whether they are fully vaccinated and secondly what the rate of Covid infection is in their chosen destination. With over 80% of the UK population now fully vaccinated, the rising demand for travel we are now seeing bears this out.
Once again, we salute our customers for persevering over the past year or so as we have re-scheduled your trips, for some of you two or even three times over! We’re anticipating lots of questions as you return to travelling again but that’s why we are here, so make good use of us.
Happy travels!
The Nomads
*** Stop Press ***
‘Explore’ have just announced their 2022 Early Bird Sale …
2022 is going to be the year for BIG holidays to make up for lost time and missed adventures. Get in early and SAVE 10% on over 150 tours all over the world, on departures between 1 March and 31 October 2022. Book by 23 September 2021.
From Greek island hopping and Icelandic northern lights to Costa Rican wildlife and exploring Moroccan souks, what will you choose for your next adventure?
The good news is this discount is also combinable with the Explore Customer Loyalty Discount for applicable clients
The 10% saving is on the cost of the tour excluding flights.
Booking Dates: 10 September 2021 – 23 September 2021
Travel Dates: March 2022-October 2022
See www.explore.co.uk to view trips and contact us to make your booking.