We don’t go on vacation abroad en masse now. This tourist expert explains why

According to HR service provider SD Worx, we took nearly as many days off in the first five months as in the same period in 2019. Wasn’t this our “Summer of Freedom”?

Newts: “No, I didn’t expect a big rush either. In Europe, measures have already allowed travel for some time. Even in Corona’s first year, 2020, travel options were limited. This angers the desire to pop, and it’s even back to normal. Plus In addition, the rise in the cost of living after Corona, the war in Ukraine and inflation stopped that.There is a fear of rising gas and jet fuel prices.

“However, we see that it is very crowded in Venice, for example. There is also more local tourism. The numbers are still a little behind, but we are actually seeing a normalization.”

Has the Corona crisis made us appreciate travel in our country more?

Domestic tourism was already on the rise before Corona, just as it is in other countries. This is mainly because people go on vacation several times a year, and then a trip in their own country is added.

“Certainly in Belgium, space is limited. If you travel barely 300 km, you can vacation in France, Holland or Germany. For many people, traveling abroad still means more travel. The fact that we are centrally located and well connected means that This shift to domestic tourism will not be fully sustainable for us.”

However, tour operators say in Newspaper We hesitate to travel abroad.

“We may start thinking more about travel costs. Problems at airports, not only in Zaventem but also in Schiphol and elsewhere, are leading to more uncertainty. As a result, people may wonder if a flying holiday is the best option and if they can Cause problems when boarding or with baggage.This may have a limited impact this summer.

“I don’t have the impression that people are still afraid that the corona will disrupt air traffic. I also see that conferences are happening again face to face. People are tired of doing everything on the Internet. People who travel in the summer months are mostly young and families Young women. They are also not afraid of Covid-19.

“You have losses in certain markets, such as China. It has not yet fully recovered due to ongoing restrictions.”

Could inflation hit the travel industry again?

“Not right away, I think. Increasingly people view travel as a basic need, just as you don’t provide for food. Often the travel budget is kept separate from the day-to-day expenses because people really need to de-stress and get away for a while.”

“The holiday budget is not saved quickly. You can see that in previous crises. During the financial and economic crisis of 2007-2008, there was a decline in international tourism and this situation stabilized very quickly after that.”

Meanwhile, the tourism sector across Europe is understaffed. How did this happen?

The problem is that during the Corona crisis, tourism was closed while other sectors remained open. Flights couldn’t go on, the food industry shut down, and so were museums. So places with technical unemployment arose and in the meantime many of these workers were employed in another sector. Now that the tourism industry is operating normally, these people tend not to immediately return to work on weekends, long hours and flexible work schedules.

“It will go on for a while and will create new problems, because the people who remain are under more work pressure. This explains the strikes requests in the aviation industry. This is not easy to solve, given the negative elements of employment in this sector.”