Travel goes back to future

Last night I dreamed I was swimming in clear, blue water. Brightly coloured fish darted about, the warm sun was on my back. Pasifika music and the clink of cocktail glasses filled the air. Next, I was rudely awakened by my alarm and the only clear water was from the vase I knocked over when I hit the snooze button.

My dream was probably prompted by the recent depressing commentary over what future travel will be like, including being far more expensive.

I’m beating myself up about the places I haven’t been. In irrational moments I fear I’ll never be able to leave Godzone again.

Sorry, South Pacific, for taking you for granted and apologies to Rarotonga for saying there was nothing to do there. Nothing to do sounds like everything I want to do right now.

But then I think about getting on a plane and I shudder. Will we ever feel the same about travel post-Covid?

Usually about now the Europe-addicted will be making plans to skip our winter and we’ll start being inundated with Pacific and Australian destination marketing. That was the way we lived, until last year.

Research backs my concerns. Well over half of a Bloom Consulting study shows fear of contracting Covid-19 outweighs the desire to travel. Those wanting to travel are less worried about price and more likely to make choices based on which country handled the pandemic crisis the best.

The truth is we didn’t always travel so much. Before flying got so cheap, international travel was a privilege. Flying long-haul meant going for a long time to make it worthwhile. No whipping over to Europe for a couple of weeks. There were also more requirements around vaccinations and health clearances. So really all these predictions of future travel tourism are simply Back to the Future – a return to how it was.

But there will be some differences to our attitude to travel. For a start it won’t carry the same snob value. We’re all so much more conscious about carbon miles that, instead of bragging about holidays, we’ll be slipping quietly away for fear of flight shaming.

And I must say I’m pleased to have visited India when I did. Now, wanting to be on paths bustling with strangers and interesting street food is a past life.

That said, once borders open again, expect some intense, targeted marketing, but even that will be different.

While New Zealand is still at odds over its future tourism strategy, other destinations have been quick to shore up how to promote themselves in future. Costa Rica is moving quickly towards ecotourism while Thailand is shifting to niche markets like adventure, and health and wellness tours. Niche tourism offerings like bird watching and cycle tours are likely to grow too, with most of us unlikely to be booking large group tours where we’d be reliant on perfect strangers practising safe behaviours.

And there will be no more saying ‘‘Bye, Mum, I’ll send you a postcard’’ and going off the grid. Post-Covid it will be more important than ever to track our movements.

One thing that will return to the past is the use of travel agents. With all the complications associated with how and where we can travel, we’ll be less trusting of our own ability to book online independently.

We’re such a long way away from having the freedom to travel again and, while I’m yearning for white sand and clear blue waters, I might just stick to dreaming. I’d probably have cut my feet on the coral anyway.