Following the downswing of the COVID pandemic, there was a significant boost in Colorado tourism last year. Granted, the numbers weren’t huge and still didn’t match up to pre-COVID levels. But travel experts expect this trend to continue this year as the weather gets warmer and people start traveling more. On top of that, the state of Colorado has become an increasingly popular tourist destination thanks to wider recognition in nationally published magazines like The New Yorker and websites such as HuffPost. So let’s examine past travel trends in order to get a better picture of how things are going to look for those who plan to go on trips this summer.
Travel Trends During the Height of the COVID Pandemic
Less Planes, More Road Trips – Because the COVID disease is airborne and spreads from person-to-person via contact, modes of transportation like planes and trains became less popular in 2020 due to the risk of getting infected. As a result, taking road trips turned into a great alternative for those who wanted to go somewhere but have lower infection risks. Plus, it helped struggling families save on money during travel.
Going Off the Beaten Path – Another effect the COVID pandemic had on the tourism industry was the increase of people traveling to less-populated areas as opposed to big and crowded places like Denver. For instance, the town of Lake City “saw a 50 percent jump in lodging stays in 2021 compared to 2019” according to the Lake City Chamber of Commerce Director and Event Coordinator Kate Hopson as quoted by Skift . In that same vein, places that were more outdoorsy became popular destinations for vacationeers due to being safer than indoor spots.
Current Travel Trends Going Forward
Back in the Air – Since COVID infection levels began decreasing last year, there was more airport traffic than in previous years. For this reason, “‘U.S. transportation infrastructure 2023 activity estimates show air travel likely to fully recover’” according to S&P Global Ratings as quoted by Black Car News . Thus, the expectation is air travel will continue to increase as The Gazette reports the Colorado Springs Airport is currently offering more seat availability and deals on nonstop flights to Los Angeles, Atlanta, and St. Paul among others.
Off-Season Travel for Better Savings – One interesting trend that increased with the COVID pandemic was off-season travel, which meant not traveling during peak times like summer and major holidays. Not only is it a good way of saving money on travel expenses, but it also means not having to deal with as many people while traveling. But as many travelers start to wise up to this advantage, the off-season travel will likely become more popular.
More People, Please! – Zoom fatigue, or online meeting fatigue, is a psychological
phenomenon where people working remotely or having social interactions from home are becoming increasingly tired of it and want to have face-to-face interactions again after being in isolation for so long. In fact, Skift says, “Global cities are now ‘back and growing in popularity after a rough 2021 and 2020, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council’s Cities Economic Impact report.” Also, the “pressure from sponsors was contributing to strong demand for re-booking space in Q3 and Q4 of 2022” as stated on a blog from etc.venues , a major provider for events held in the United States and Britain, which implies that even businesses want to get back to personal interactions.
Bucket List Destinations – Due to the pandemic, many of us went on vacations with just family members and close friends for safety reasons. But as COVID is starting to cool off for now, a study by Expedia, hotels.com and Vrbo claims this year’s vacations will be a lot more bold and different from the monotonous outdoor vacations a lot of us have taken for the past three years. This includes ‘revenge travel,’ a new term that’s emerged to describe “a huge increase in people wanting to make up for time and experiences lost to the pandemic” according to NPR , and taking trips to exotic places that show up on bucket lists such as Japan.
For more information on how to make the most cost-effective and least accident-prone trips this summer, feel free to contact attorney Rick Wagner.