One year later: Tourists still in COVID-19 jail

It was during the height of the first of wave of the Coronavirus global pandemic. The grim days, when COVID-19 wreaked havoc through some of the world best medical institutions, and left wealthy western nations helplessly counting bodies. It was the days when most people actually wanted to believe the then US President Donald Trump when he said, “It’s going to disappear. One day, like a miracle, it will disappear.”

It is now March 2021, and just recently someone said, “My passport probably thinks I am in jail”. And that sums up the current state of the travel and tourism industry. Tourists are still stuck in the COVID-19 lockdowns, curfews and travel bans. Some analysts are saying we will never return to normal. They say what we have now is the ‘new normal’. And central to this ‘new normal’ are the travel restrictions.