At the time of writing this post the travel and tourism industry is in trouble. Flights are grounded, airlines are losing millions and popular destinations are empty, and whilst these are troubling times I can’t help but think that it’s also the perfect time for all of us to really consider how we travel and to realise that travelling locally is so important right now.

Why Travelling Locally is So Important

Of course I feel incredibly sorry for anyone who is at risk of losing their job right now, but I don’t feel sorry for companies who are owned by Millionaires and Billionaires who are sitting comfortably with bulging bank accounts and threatening to make their staff redundant, this is why at the moment my focus is on UK travel. To be fair, my focus had switched to UK travel long before the global pandemic, but now that every hotel, restaurant and non-urgent shop in the country is closed it has given me the opportunity to rethink the importance of local travel.

I think we all need to do the same.

I have to admit that there have been comments and questions on social media that have angered me, people booking flights for July and August to places that haven’t even announced whether or not they will be ready to accept visitors, with no information regarding possible quarantine restrictions or even a clue as to whether all businesses have survived the economic crisis.

Instead of booking flights, planning long getaways and thinking that life is going to return to how it was, I am considering the smaller changes that will have to be made with regards to where and how we travel, for the next twelve months at least.

I have always preferred smaller, independent, family run hotels and B&Bs over larger chain hotels. This hasn’t changed, but I do realise that issues such as cleaning, social distancing and even room furnishings will have to be adapted. However, I am still more willing to support those smaller businesses than larger companies.

It’s just a case of when and how.

I don’t know about you but when I travel I like to explore my local surroundings, finding independent shops, local artists, coffee shops, small restaurants. All of these things make up a community and it is these things that are currently struggling. It is impossible to know which businesses will have survived this period of uncertainty and upset so now more than ever they are relying on local people to help them.

This is why travelling locally is so important, don’t think about when you can jump on a plane and head abroad, instead stop and think about the businesses closer to where you live that would be appreciative of your custom, when you want to take a weekend break consider visiting another town or city not too far from home and explore that place.

Whatever you would normally do whilst travelling can be done in the country where you live, so for the foresseable future foreign travel is (in my opinion) unnecessary.

Before the pandemic many people were beginning to rethink how they travelled in order to be more sustainable and friendly towards the environment. Now, as we begin moving into a post-pandemic world we need to continue in this mindset, but we also need to be more friendly to our local economies.

I have no idea what the travel industry will look like in the future, but there is no doubt that it will be different, interesting and will hopefully make us all more considerate about the ways we chose to travel.

Are you planning foreign travel or willing to stay closer to home?

Let me know in the comments.