Vaccine Rollouts a Huge Lift for Tourism and Travel Industries

There have been a few positive signals in the travel and tourism business in the last few months. But nothing as solid or powerful as news of vaccines against COVID-19 being ready to go.

Sleeves were being rolled up in Russia on the weekend. Tomorrow it could be Great Britain’s turn. The Americans aren’t far behind, and there’s talk of Canadians getting a first round of vaccinations next month.

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It probably won’t be enough to get Canadians winging their way south to Cancun or Cuba in mass numbers this winter, which is extremely unfortunate for tourism-dependent sun destinations and also for the airlines that usually fly so many of us south in the first few months of the year. But industry officials say they’re beginning to see light at the end of the proverbial tunnel, and at least one expert sees a recovery in the second quarter of the year.

“The vaccine news is encouraging and gives us hope,” said Pascal Prinz, Director Canada for Switzerland Tourism and Chair of the Canada Chapter of the European Travel Commission. “For next year, Canadian tour operators and travel agents confirm Canadians want to travel again with a high demand in Europe and Switzerland.”

Most cruises in North America have been cancelled for the first couple months of 2021, but cruise lines feel things might finally be going their way.

“The vaccine is welcome news for everyone, especially our guests and those of us in the industry,” said Roger Frizzell, Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer at Carnival Corporation. “Certainly there remains a high degree of excitement and enthusiasm among our guests about cruising — and news of a vaccine adds even further to the anticipation.

“While we currently remain on pause in the U.S., we believe there is a pent-up demand for cruising and travel,” Frizzell said.

“I think the vaccines will have an impact because, yes, people want to hang onto hope; they want something to look forward to,” said Stephanie Bishop, managing director at the Globus Family of Brands in Canada, which includes Globus, Avalon Waterways, Cosmos and Monograms. “I doubt people will start booking trips in the following three months, but I think things will get going once people see it (a vaccine) is real.

“Once people start seeing it they’ll be encouraged and have more confidence. Some will book, there’s no doubt about it.”

Bishop also pointed out that a cold, snowy Canadian winter sometimes has a way of making people feel pretty strongly about a week in the sun.

“It’s like the old days, we’d have a big snow storm and it would wreak havoc in every call centre. Everyone would say, ‘I have to leave NOW.’”

Bishop said there’s already been an increase in calls to Globus companies in the last few days.

“It will be a year (of the pandemic) very soon. A lot of people didn’t have a March Break this year and couldn’t go away in the summer. So, I think vaccines will be a huge shot in the arm.

“Maybe what we need is the perfect storm; a big dump of snow and vaccines,” she said with a laugh.

“I think all it does is continue to be a positive for all of us in the entire hospitality space, because it means with every new announcement and every new step that … there’s more consumer confidence to go along with it,” Katina Athanasiou, Chief Sales Officer, Norwegian Cruise Line, recently told TravelPulse Canada. “I think it’s definitely a positive step in the right direction.

“This doesn’t mean you have to step on a flight tomorrow or do something immediate if people aren’t ready, but it gets people emotionally back to that comfort and confidence,” she said.

Randy Parker, director of sales for the Maui Convention and Visitors Bureau, said Maui received a huge rush of visitors when the island re-opened for tourism October 15.

“If that’s any indication of what will happen when the vaccine hits the general population, I think we have a lot of pent-up demand. I think once the vaccine gets into the general public, we’re going to see probably a lot more visitors.”

Speaking at a US Travel webinar the other day, Adam Sacks, president and CEO of a well-known company called Tourism Economics, said that vaccinations for a large portion of the US by the second quarter of next year would set the stage for “a strong leisure travel summer” south of the border.

Sacks said he thinks business and group travel will take longer to recover.

“There’s no question that leisure travel will lead the recovery,” he said, adding that leisure travel could get back to pre-pandemic levels by 2022.

Sacks said he expects things will be “very difficult” over the next few months, but that the world will start to look “a whole lot more normal” by the third quarter of next year.

He also said he thinks higher-income households, perhaps those that weathered the pandemic storm better than others, will be the first folks out of the starting blocks.