How to Support the Travel Industry During a Global Pandemic

I think it’s safe to say I didn’t think I’d ever feel the need to write this blog post. And yet, on day 41 of my self-quarantine from COVID-19, here we are.

The travel industry has ground to an unprecedented halt in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is absolutely as it should be — the only way we’re going to get this situation under control is by staying home, social distancing, and, well, not traveling.

As a budget solo traveler and hostel addict, though, I’m growing increasingly concerned that many of the places that have brought my life meaning may be in jeopardy of ever opening their doors again if this pandemic continues for the foreseeable future. The unfortunate reality is that many hostels and budget travel businesses don’t have large savings accounts they can dig into to help sustain themselves through months of vacancy.

We absolutely should not travel right now, and in many places that’s thankfully being prohibited altogether. But there are other things we can do to support our favorite travel-related businesses to help keep them going during this rough time. There are four major things I’m committing to do, and I hope you’ll join me:

1. don’t travel

The longer we all do a mediocre job of following the rules, the longer this pandemic will last — there’s nothing quite like a pandemic to make us realize how “all in this together” we are. In addition to helping flatten the curve, not traveling will help protect more vulnerable communities from seeing a spike in cases. I, for example, live in New York City, and as much as I’d love to travel somewhere right now, it would be incredibly irresponsible of me to travel to a country with fewer cases and potentially infect people while asymptomatic. There’s a lot more I could say on this subject, but truly: don’t travel. In addition to simply being the right thing to do, quashing this pandemic altogether is also the best thing we can do for the travel industry overall.

And I know this is hard. As Allyson of Worldpackers so beautifully wrote, “I know that hearing the words "don't travel" makes us travelers feel like the rug is being pulled out from under us. The rug is being pulled out from under us, but there will be a day when we can shake hands with our tour guides and wander through a crowded, local market and debate who gets the middle armrests on the plane again. That day is not today, but it will come.”

2. Write reviews of favorite travel businesses

I am an absolute hypocrite when it comes to writing reviews — I read and rely on them with an almost religious-fervor… but I barely ever write them. Now’s the time for that to change. If there’s a place you’ve stayed, a tour you’ve been on, a restaurant you’ve enjoyed… now’s the time to write them a really lovely review. Write them on Google, Facebook, TripAdvisor, Hostelworld, and wherever else might be helpful — if you ask the business directly, they usually know which forum helps drive them the most business.

I wrote a review for Pasteur Street Brewing Company in Hanoi, Vietnam — where my dad and I enjoyed an amazing afternoon snack in January 2019!

And another review for Ock Pop Tok, a social enterprise and textile shop in Luang Prabang I’ve been admiring since May 2016.

3. Try out online experiences through AirBnB

Just yesterday, Airbnb launched their own online version of their famous Airbnb Experiences, empowering all of us to “travel” without even stepping outside. I already signed up for one in Portugal called “Wine Class with a Cool Wine Expert” — my mom and I were supposed to visit Portugal in May, so we’re going to tune into this experience online instead! Although it certainly isn’t the same thing as actually being there, online experiences will provide a huge boost to tour providers that have seen their income grind to an almost immediate halt.

4. support travel bloggers with shares, likes, and comments

This is an extremely strange time to be a travel blogger. Personally, I haven’t posted in a month because it felt inauthentic to me to be posting flashbacks while people worldwide are fighting for our very survival. And yet, the reality is that we also need a little bit of joy in the midst of all this pain — and for me, and I’d imagine many of you, transporting back in time to when we could travel more freely is one way to bring a little joy back into my life. So go ahead and show some of your favorite travel bloggers some love on social media — share their accounts in your story, like/comment/save their posts, and use their content to help you plan the first trip you’ll take when all this is over.

Feel free to follow me @thetravelingcreative for more content from pre-quarantine times.

With that, I’ll leave you with one final thank you: thank you to everyone who is contributing their part in the fight against COVID-19. Thank you to the healthcare workers, the garbage pickup staff, the food delivery drivers, the MTA conductors, and oh so many more people that are fighting on the frontlines. Supporting the travel industry during this time is genuinely important to me, but it’ll never be as important as supporting and showing my gratitude for you all for fighting for our lives each and every day.

Truly, thank you ♡.