Travel Map For A New Era

It’s finally time to put that dusty passport to use that had been grounded for a year! As immunizations rise, people who’ve had their 1st shot of the Covid-19 vaccine are making up for lost time and travel bookings are seeing an upsurge compared to a year ago.

Vaxication is a term coined to capture the post-vaccine vacation. The first Vaxication trip would inevitably be bittersweet – some people have waited nearly a year to reunite with families and friends. On these journeys, who you go with is more important than where you go to – people will look forward to staying in one spot and catching up on family events rather than sightseeing and driving from place to place. One reckons that even a trip to a friend’s house or a dinner with extended family could count as a vaxication, for these simple joys were lost to us in the wake of this terrible pandemic.

Countries are welcoming international visitors once again with unique rules for vaccinated travelers. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), both the UAE’s national carriers Etihad Airways and Emirates announced launching the IATA Travel Pass in phases and on selected flights. Dubbed a ‘digital passport’, the pass shall be used to verify if a passenger’s pre-travel Covid-19 test or vaccination meets the eligibility requirements to undertake a journey. In February, Bahrain became one of the first countries in the world to launch a digital Covid-19 vaccine passport.

As the vaccination continues to roll out at high speed, we can finally picture ourselves riding off into the sunset.

A year and a half into the greatest upheaval our world has seen, the travel industry, unlike any other, continues with cautious optimism for recovery. Having spent much of 2020 and 2021 at home, wanton travelers look forward to various options for offbeat adventures, wellness, and safe getaways. The new world order has made life unpredictable, but this tragedy demands urgent creativity from the planet’s thinking beings. As we emerge from the grasp of the pandemic, brace yourself for unfamiliarity, for systems and norms that you would never have considered possible. After all, we never imagined working full-fledged from home or weddings on Zoom calls with the bride and groom in different cities, but the pandemic has pulled no punches. Simply tighten your seat belt, settle in, and take time to explore the wanderer in you. With these new available avenues, it looks like there’s no time like the present.