‘It really all comes down to taking personal responsibility’

A TRALEE woman working in the travel industry, who for the purposes of the article wishes to remain anonymous, has said that - despite warnings about travelling abroad in 2020 - she will still be jetting off to attend a tourism conference later this week for work.

Speaking to The Kerryman last week, she said that she understands that it is not the prevailing popular opinion to say that you’re going abroad right now but says that she will be taking all the necessary precautions when she travels and she will be travelling to a country where the virus is under control.

With regards to travel, she says that it all boils down to a person taking responsibility for their own safety while they are travelling, adding that you would potentially having a higher risk of catching the virus heading into Dublin city centre than you would heading off on holiday.

“I work in the travel industry and in pre-COVID times, I would basically have been away and out of the country twice a month doing hotel inspections and things like that. Next week, I’m going to attend a conference in Lanzarote which is being held by the Director General of the World

Tourism organisation,” she said.

Acknowledging that the news cycle for the past week or so has very much centered on the ‘don’t go abroad’ message, she says that she feels if you take the necessary precautions, you do your research about where you’re heading and where you are staying, you significantly reduce the risk.

“At the end of the day, it all comes down to taking personal responsibility. I will be wearing a mask on the plane, I’ll be washing my hands as much as I can and I will of course have hand sanitiser at all times. The hotel that I’ll be staying at, I’ve examined throughly their health and safety protocols too,” she continued.

“I know that I’m going to take care and exercise caution. It’s not like I’m going to Magaluf and I’m going to be drinking every night,” she laughed.

“Another thing as well is that I’m being cautious about where I’m travelling to at the moment. Where I’m travelling to, Lanzarote, they have next to zero active cases,” she said.

“I wouldn’t go near America right now, so you know, I’m not going to jump right into a hot spot where there’s thousands of cases but instead, places where the pandemic and the virus is largely under control, I don’t see any issue with travelling there as long as I take the necessary precautions.”