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Can we travel better in 2021? Image: Unsplash / Eldar Nazarov.
Can we travel better in 2021? Image: Unsplash / Eldar Nazarov.
Even before the pandemic, there were signs that a change was needed in the travel industry. 2020 basically put an end to all but essential travel, with hotels, monuments, airlines, museums and restaurants trying to reinvent themselves, reuse their spaces and services. Can the lessons of 2020 be used in 2021 to help build a concept of tourism that satisfies the traveler without being destructive to the planet and others? Episode 13 of The “After Calendar”, our trend book for 2021.
Suddenly the skies were emptied of airplanes, the trains were nearly empty, and everyone found themselves confined to their homes. The tourism industry essentially came to a standstill and our own identity as travelers or tourists was transformed, shaken. Under house arrest, we rediscover the nature that surrounds us and the wonders of proximity. And these long months should profoundly change the way we travel in 2021 and beyond.
Even before the pandemic, there were signs that a change was needed in the travel industry. But instead of a gradual progression of growing awareness among tourists about the environmental impact of their practices after the “flygskam” movement and a progressive adoption of sustainable tourism by the industry, international tourism came to a halt.
The term ‘anthropause’, which refers to this period of significantly reduced human activity, was coined largely in response to the unprecedented drop in travel and the consequent drop in carbon emissions.
While our awareness of our impact as tourists, sometimes catastrophic, on settings and communities may have been on the rise since the concept of “over-tourism” made headlines in 2018, 2020 made it essentially impossible not to look at our behaviors. face to face and understand that they have a very direct effect on the shape of our planet.
Observing the outside world from the inside, through the screens in our homes, the reports of dolphins swimming in less polluted waters in Italy and near Istanbul may have been a temporary reason to cheer us up, but also a call to make accounts in ourselves. themselves.
Scientists investigating the effects of this anthropause on ecosystems emphasize that with free wildlife and humans locked up, the relationship between people and nature is changing. With nature as a main attraction for many travelers, this year we learned that observing wildlife is not only associated with an exotic or distant place or even with the change of the environment. While we stayed home, we began to really look at the nature around us.
The 2020 birding boom came about for convenience, as birds can be found almost anywhere, even in urban areas, but it also meant that many of us began to see our own nearby environments differently. Incorporating nature into our daily routine meant that we could approach this environment with new eyes, a key feature in developing our new travel practices.
Leaving the skies for the birds
As for the airlines, the planes remained on the ground, a symbolic holdover from our recent past. A desert parking lot in Alice Springs, Australia, is the storage place for over a hundred planes that require regular maintenance and has become something of a curiosity in its own right.
At the same time, in Singapore, planes on the ground were transformed into restaurants where customers could book the opportunity to eat a travel-style meal and experience what it’s like to fly on the Singapore Airlines Airbus A380. So marketing initiatives like this and the highly publicized flights to nowhere may have been designed to spark excitement for travel, but, as a mock travel, they actually seemed like a kind of “tour” of our recent past. Postcards from another time before COVID, or even from another world.
Meanwhile, a British company specializing in flightless holidays aims to respond to our changing demands: “wanting to avoid crowded airports, holidays closer to home, experience nature and support local businesses.”
As for hotels, what can a hotel offer us now? In the new configuration of our everyday reality, hotels tried to launch special rates and offers for those who wanted to make it their temporary home office for a while, a home office located elsewhere for hybrid nomads who want to work with a different vision and take advantage of the comforts and the environment. A pragmatic reinvention that saw the boundaries between home (office) and vacation homes blurring.
The journey inward, at home
The reasons why we travel are multiple: we want a change of scenery, we want to explore something new and learn something, we want to try new foods, we want to show off on social media, we want to make connections, we want to relax, we want peace, calm and tranquility, we want rediscover ourselves.
With burnout levels on the rise, particularly this year with home office screens a ubiquitous feature in our lives, this remains a key aspect of travel. Traveling is often primarily about our relationship with ourselves.
So instead of taking a local flight that goes nowhere, what if we could take an inland trip somewhere? The lessons of 2020 have paved the way for such contemplation. At the beginning of the pandemic, the philosopher and author Alain de Botton addressed for the Financial Times the topic of how we can get some of the psychological and existential benefits of traveling from an 8-minute walk or from reflecting on previous trips, how “ we can now enjoy the best that any place has to offer simply by thinking about it ”.
While this may have been written before anyone knew how much of 2020 would be spent on lockdowns, it can help us better understand what we are looking for from the travel experience when we are once again free. One of the themes to keep in mind for 2021 for Pinterest is “dreams are the new escapes”: these trips that we do at home can prepare us for a different type of trip, based on our own dreams and without leaked images that appear in the social networks .
Reaction against travel influencers
Even before the pandemic, many influencers were called in for organizing their Instagram shots, while destination promotion departments were also trying to navigate a fine line between working with the right “influencers” who generate engagement and the “profiteers.” .
In September 2019, James Asquith asked in an essay in Forbes: “Have Instagram influencers ruined travel for a generation?” arguing that “images became less about destinations and more about pretty, edited images” and “individual egos.”
The result is a disconnect between image and reality.
“We see all these incredible destinations and when we, as the public, make that once-in-a-lifetime trip to them, we are disappointed that said destination is not as we were led to believe it is,” he said.
The once-in-a-lifetime ride ends up comparing itself to Insta’s perfect shot, and it almost inevitably falls short, leading to disappointment. Too many people to get a clear view, at the wrong time of day, with no filter.
But “the world is not perfect and that should be appreciated,” he said. Seek inspiration from what’s around you, not from the glowing Instagram photo – it’s a message that resonates even more now, as the realities of the locks made the fantasies posted by influencers blatantly irrelevant.
Slow travel, ‘detour’ and stay put
So is there a way to travel better? Can we become tourists and travelers with a difference? This year’s loss of freedom of movement has prompted many travelers, such as New York-based real estate agent and avid traveler Rob, 34, to do some soul-searching.
“The past year has shown us how fragile freedom is [to travel internationally] It can be and I think that for a long time I will not take it for granted and I hope that my fellow travelers will not either… ”, he said.
So is there a way to minimize our impact, perhaps by traveling less and still reap the benefits of traveling? An experience that enriches our lives, speaks to us with purpose, offers us sanctuary?
In the last decade, various actors have championed slow tourism as a way to better respect the environment and the community of our travels, and various destinations are even promoted that way.
It takes time to immerse ourselves in our surroundings, explore what’s nearby, eat local, support local artisans, focus on experiences instead of hopping on a plane to consume a beach vacation around the world as you would with a fast food, as described. by travel anthropologist Saskia Cousin.
Traveling slow is about not taking a trip for granted, realizing it and, yes, slowing down, though not necessarily for long periods or long distances. As this year draws to a close, there are signs that some in the industry are paying attention to this evolution, as shown by new initiatives around the world, including in Australia and India.
Another approach that could become particularly relevant in the post-COVID world is that of ‘detour’, which is closely related and, according to French historian Sylvain Venayre, involves exploring your surroundings, often associated with being a tourist in your own area, and go with the flow, go where the day takes you and open yourself up to casual encounters.
It’s about following the road less traveled rather than heading to the world’s top tourist destinations to simply tick off a checklist. It’s about having a more personal experience, not comparing what you see on your trip with what is on your social media.
While 2020 saw many people from around the world traveling locally, taking “stay vacations”, because they had no other option with the borders closed, could emerge as a more conscious option.
A growing interest in motorhome sales and rental could be a sign that these trips are becoming more attractive to a growing number of people. 2020 lessons on our relationship with nature, our environment, our inner journeys and the reality of small and imperfect meanders that give rise to real and lived experiences along a smaller, different and less traveled path could pave the way so that we can be better. tourists. DC
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