As we’re all here at home “confined to quarters,” we may be wondering if we’re ever going to travel again. If so, when? And where?
Maybe now is the time to think back and recall which of our past trips were the best and why. Which were the ones that never materialized that we still hope to bring to fruition at some time in the future when the time is right? And which future trips that we still hope to operate are no longer practical or possible in the “new normal” reality in which we find ourselves today and in the near future.
Perhaps now is the time to review our records of past trips and develop an integrated up-to-date mailing list of past travelers with whom we can communicate, folks who might appreciate hearing from us as time goes along. Maybe now is the time to develop a newsletter if you don’t already have one, a vehicle to keep in touch with your past travelers, whether in print or an online version.
Maybe, as the months go by and cabin fever takes over, we’ll appreciate reading and hearing about new destinations, new modes of travel, new inoculations and new health discoveries that make world travel once again a practical undertaking without placing the traveler in harm’s way. And as we’re all here at home, reminiscing over past trips, we’re probably wondering when and if we’re going to travel again. If so, when and where?
Most of us who have been active in the travel and tourism industry for many years are confident there are great minds at work who will find the solution to this current pandemic as they’ve done in the past with smallpox, the Bubonic plague and other viruses. However, until that day comes, it behooves us to prepare for the future and to start now while we have the time.
So, dust off and update those mailing lists of past travelers and potential future travelers. Keep that umbilical cord between yourself, past and future travelers. Encourage them to write you about interesting trips they may have taken in past years or hints to pass on to future travelers. See to it that they educate the next generation of young people about the wonders of the world that still await us all as we once again weave world-wide travel into our life plans.
Marty is a Certified Travel Counselor (CTC) with a long history in the travel/tourism industry. She has been a tour operator, worldwide trip leader, college tourism instructor and textbook author. Her consulting firm is Sarbey Associates. For more information about how to organize group trips, get the Traveling Tribes book today!
