Let’s Talk about Tourism – April 2020

By Martin Owen

You may wonder why Conexión is having a Let’s Talk Tourism column at the moment. Well, despite the confusing and worrying times we’re all living through at the moment, as the saying goes “This too will pass”.  As has always been the case, tourism will restart and we’ll all be getting out and about again.

That being said, now is a great time to start planning where you want to go when you’re able to do it. It’s true that the best trips are normally planned many months or even years in advance, so this current period of staying-put is a good opportunity to research and plan.

Luckily we have the Internet to help us research and in many cases virtually visit places on our travel list. There are tourist attractions, museums and cities that are offering virtual tours, so you can still get access to check them out.

Although airlines and other transport services may not be running at the moment, their websites are still operating and allowing us to get information and in many cases make advance reservations. The same applies to the tourism authorities around the country and around the world.

You may know that I sit on one of our local Tourism Development Councils here on the Northern Gulf Coast. I can assure you that as well as managing the current, ever changing (from day to day and hour to hour), situation we are also looking closely at how we recover when this is all over. This recovery is vital for the economic health of our citizens and economy, so we all take it very seriously. It will also be vital for our own mental and physical recovery.

Here’s my challenge for you. Look at the places you’ve visited in the past and list what you enjoyed and why. Try and post on social media photos from your travels. This will make you feel good and sharing that with your friends and family will raise their spirits too.

Back to the challenge and your list. Having worked out what you really enjoyed about your travels in the past, start planning to visit new places in the coming months and years. You’ll find that the tourism industry is still open for future business. There may even be great deals available. Just make sure that if you take advantage of any deals, you don’t get into anything that you can’t cancel or amend. Possibly, talk to a local travel agent, as most of them are still open, and will be more than happy to help you plan.

Let’s turn every situation into an opportunity. This is the ideal time to start work on your next trip of a lifetime. You’ll be setting out before you know it.