Travel tips & opinions

If you fancy starting your own cruise company now seems a great time to buy – providing you can dock somewhere and passengers feel confident enough to travel!

Experts are touting micro-tourism as the best answer to the current tourism malaise.

For all those people who have less than six months validity as at January 1st, the advice is to renew you passport now.

So far British holidaymakers have really only been considering the rules imposed by the UK and the devolved nations. We need to start watching the reactions of other countries to what is happening in the UK.

Mixing with other humans seems to be the cause of many of the increases in COVID -19 cases that are being seen around the world.

There is quite a lot for the owners and managers at Southend to ponder. As will other owners at smaller airports where larger competition is nearby.

If you aren’t tempted to go abroad for bank holiday weekend then explore nearby and keep your eyes open. It may surprise you!

The time has come to create a tourism and travel department which incudes the travel advisory service and passport departments from the FCO and the Home Office.

The key thing is to talk to whoever is supplying what you bought.

Those who operate canal boats, narrow boats and barges, houseboats and anything that floats have been quietly giving thanks.

What cruise companies really need now is a couple of months of cruises with absolutely not one case of coronavirus on-board. Only then will some people begin to get confidence in this type of holiday.

In the future there could be more destination backed travel insurance schemes.

Both Spain and Portugal have expressed annoyance due to British advice against visiting both countries.

This morning easyJet gave a badly needed fillip to the travel industry by announcing that it flew in July with 85% of seats filled.

The question cruise ship bosses will be asking themselves is whether these outbreaks will have any effect on the future for cruises.

Some medical experts have urged people to use their own transport rather than public transport so what’s a person to do?

The question is whether all airlines have such detailed plans.

Since the re-opening, many will tell you that their phones haven’t stopped ringing. Some gleefully boast that they are busy until the end of August.

Not all countries want to see us yet and even if they do, there are obstacles making travel difficult.

Something substantial and almost over-the-top needs to be done to remind these louts that they have a responsibility for the health of people living where they visit

Many sites have been destroyed come by man and some the elements for all time leaving just photographs of what we once could enjoy.

I suspect that the advice will stay in place all summer and may be relaxed in September when the major cruise lines start up again.

No wonder the travel industry and us holiday makers don’t know if we are coming or going.

If you are affected most cruise lines are offering credits against future sailings of 125% which should be a sufficient cushion against price rises in the short term.

Unless the Bournemouth guinea pigs cause a second wave and the EU withdraws its air bridges agreement, there will be a summer holiday season after all.

I have talked myself around to saying there will be a summer international tourism season but It might exclude places such as those where the numbers are still increasing.

Of course all this advice is immaterial at the moment since we are advised not to fly! Unless the government is planning on letting us fly soon.

How does tourism develop after the virus yet not plunge the world into a second wave?