Filenews 18 April 2021 - by Adamos Adamou
A positive effect on the tourism industry also sees research by Booking.com that vaccination programmes will have, which, according to responses given by would-be travellers from 28 countries, will largely determine the course of the industry this year.
The survey, which involved 28 thousand travellers, shows that the majority of participants will travel if they have been vaccinated first and that they will prefer destinations that have started their own vaccination programmes. In this context, it appears that vaccines will determine to a large extent the course of the tourism industry this year around the world, but also in our country.
In particular, the Commission's Booking.com shows that two out of three travellers (66%) feel more optimistic about the possibility of making a trip in 2021, mainly due to vaccines. The same number (61%) states that the fact that they failed to travel in 2020 has catapulted their appetite for travel in 2021.
In addition to half of those surveyed, however, they seem to make it a condition for travel to have vaccinated themselves first. According to the Survey of Booking.com, 59% of participants said they would not travel unless they were first vaccinated. This figure, in fact, rises to 68% for those over the age of 55. It is also noteworthy that 55% of respondents said that they would only travel to countries where vaccination programmes are "running". However, 41% remain sceptical about whether vaccinations will help make travel safer.
Thirst for beaches
Respondents argue that the fact that they failed to travel in 2020 played an aggravating role in their quality of life. 48% pointed out that this condition had cost their psychology and 47% said they felt imprisoned in their own home because of the restrictions. 64% say travel is more important today than it was before the pandemic. In fact, almost three out of four (71%) of those surveyed said they would like to see a increase in the way they are treated. they said they'd rather go on vacation in 2021 than find the real... love and 66% said it puts travel ahead of success at work as a promotion.
More than 6 in 10 (61%) optimistic that they will holiday in a coastal destination. 23%, somewhat more restrained, claims to visit a beach or a spa destination when it is safe.
According to the results of the survey published by Booking.com, what travellers are looking for is recreation and relaxation after restrictions, resulting in only 6% of participants stating that they will plan a more active trip with many activities and only 5% will choose city tourism. The respondents' responses also show that most respondents to the survey (53%) have collected a large number of permits due to last year's lockdowns and that they wish for this year's long-term holiday (45%). "The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on our lives made last year one of the most difficult. Keeping distances and the directive to stay home was part of the new normality. We may still have difficult days ahead of us, but research reveals that our appetite to discover the world remains unchanged and that after months of restrictions, travelers are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel because of vaccines and the development of innovative medical methods in the battle against coronavirus," the Booking.com research comment.
Need for support
According to the authors of the survey, in order to help travellers travel safely to the different destinations they want, governments, travellers and the wider travel ecosystem should work together. In this context, the survey participants, in an overwhelming proportion (95%) of the pointed out that the tourism sector should be supported through government support measures. Two-thirds (66%) of those surveyed said they would like to see a increase in the believe that financial incentives are now needed by governments to help the recovery of travel and more than half (56%) they are concerned that the industry will not survive unless it is supported by government grants. 72%, meanwhile, agree to test FOR COVID-19 before travel and 70% say governments need to work with travel agencies and providers to set more consistent standards.
The vast majority of Booking.com's partners agree with the need for support through government projects, providing accommodation through the platform (3.5 thousand of its partners from 20 countries participated in the survey). In particular, while 70% of the platform partners surveyed are cautiously optimistic about the future of their business, they nevertheless share the position of travellers that the industry needs support, as the majority of them would like to see governments do more in the future to support the travel industry during this ongoing health crisis.
Three key areas that need to be addressed to strengthen industry, according to businesses, are the existence of common international standards on travel advice and rules, the acceleration of vaccination programmes and the wider availability of pre-travel diagnostic tests. The majority of platform partners, namely six out of ten (62%) who participated in the survey, however, expect an increase in interest in travel this year. At the same time, however, they do not sit with their hands crossed since according to the Booking.com survey almost 70% of them have proceeded to strengthen the sanitary measures and protocols they maintain to tackle the pandemic.
Perdios: Key vaccines also for Cyprus
The importance of vaccinations for the tourism industry was also highlighted by Deputy Tourism Minister Savvas Perdios last Thursday, following the vaccination of him and the other members of the Council of Ministers. The more people are vaccinated, the more immunity we will have in Cyprus and therefore more likely our country will do better this year in terms of tourism, he said characteristically, acknowledging that "to return to normality, the road goes through vaccines, all of which do their job equally".
He added that "questions that our partners are constantly asking us abroad are about how things are here, how the epidemiological picture is for the tests and about the positivity rate, how many will have been vaccinated by the summer. Therefore, all tourism operators both in Cyprus and abroad admit that any recovery in tourism, not only this year but also in the coming years, will depend very much on the vaccine," he said.
However, although asked about this, the Deputy Minister of Tourism refrained from making estimates for the summer season, since as he explained things are constantly changing. "There are quite a few airlines and tour operators who may have a schedule today, but based on a decision by either their own government or ours, to change the data dramatically," he said. He added that "what is extremely important to us is that in an equation concerning the flight schedule of tour operators or airlines two things play a role: Travel instructions from the country of origin and our own travel instructions or our own protocol in Cyprus". We, he said, "have made sure that we provide a stability protocol, that anyone who comes to Cyprus can have the tests they need without having to quarantine, without interrupting flights. Therefore, I believe that as Cyprus we have done everything we can to be receptive to anyone who wants to come to our country. From then on, yes, that is the fact: We are now waiting and dependent on travel instructions from foreign countries."
