Tourist spots which are usually packed with tourists suddenly had to close their gates tightly. In early 2020, if they insisted on continuing to operate, they were forcibly closed and fined by the government.
Hotels were deserted because hardly anyone was travelling. All must stay at home to maintain health. It all started with the discovery of COVID-19 which has not completely subsided until now.
Tourism is the industry hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Airlines were forced to cut the number of employees on a large scale due to the drop in the number of flights around the world.
Based on data from the International Air Transportation Association (IATA) on February 3, 2020 was called the worst year for the commercial aviation industry because the number of passengers fell by 65.9% compared to 2019.
The number of passengers on international routes throughout the year fell by 75.6% and demand for passengers on domestic routes fell by 48.8% compared to the previous year, which according to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) was only 1.8 billion passengers out of 4.5 billion passengers in 2019.
Most of the existing passengers were not travelling on tour, but for business purposes and the like. There are not many young travellers who still dare to travel, while those who are seniors make sure they don’t travel anywhere.
But now the good news is starting to come. With the introduction of easing for tourist attractions and since the launch of the COVID-19 vaccine two months ago, the trend of travel has started to pick up.
Senior travellers who were nowhere at the start of the pandemic are starting to travel back. This trend was revealed by Squarematch, Inc., a travel insurance aggregator platform provider company based in St. Petersburg, Florida, on Friday (19/2) last week.
At the start of the pandemic, Squaremouth reported an almost immediate drop in US senior or elderly tourists. The company noted that the average age of travellers fell from over 50 to 38.
“Early on in the pandemic and prior to the vaccine, we saw younger travellers comprising a larger market share, as the percentage of senior travellers dropped,” says Squaremouth Lead Data Analyst Steven Benna.
Now the tourist market is starting to shift back to pre-pandemic conditions, with more senior travellers. In the same time frame, the number of travellers under the age of 60 began to decline. So, welcome to the tourist spots, senior travellers!
