GREEN AND CLEAN

During the great pause, when the sky was silent apart from the sound of birdsong and we re-evaluated our blossom-filled local parks, many people rethought their impact on nature and consequently their travel practices.

Even before the pandemic hit, the travel industry was on the cusp of change, at a crossroads as questions about sustainability and carbon footprints started to overshadow cheap flights and bargain resorts.

April Hutchinson explains that “travel had been growing at an unprecedented rate prior to COVID-19, and there had been calls over the last couple of years to slow this juggernaut as it rushed towards overtourism in many places around the world”.

Rory Boland, editor of consumer magazine Which? Travel, confirms that cities such as Venice, where residents have long complained of overtourism, will benefit, and that tourists will too as they seek out lesser-known cities and quieter, less populous places.

Boland also predicts a rise in train travel, as we struggle with the new flight restrictions and our carbon footprints. “There will be an increased interest in train travel, but it’s not just coronavirus that has caused this. We were seeing a boom before the crisis.

“Obviously you still have to pass through a station and observe social distancing on board – it doesn’t alleviate all risk – but people will feel safer and also be taking responsibility for the planet more seriously.”