10 Ways COVID19 Affect Travel for Jamaicans and Caribbean People

Nobody thought 2020 would look like this. We had BIG PLANS for this year because 2019 was a rough year for many of us. WELLLLL 2020 did us dirty! This COVID19 Coronavirus pandemic shattered many of my our travel plans. ‘Rona said “Travel? Ha, You tried it!”. Without a doubt, COVID19 affect travel for Jamaicans and Caribbean People.

I still believe travel will bounce back. I still believe that we’re all looking forward to the days when we can get out the house and travel. But what we knew as “normal” is forever changed. And travel…especially international travel…will emerge as something new.

How Travel Will Change for Jamaicans and Caribbean People

Below are some of the ways I believe COVID19 affect travel for Jamaicans and Caribbean People:

1. Face masks are now mandatory for all passengers. Most if not all airlines have made masks mandatory for the duration of the flight.

2. Ban on travel for Americans might mean limited flights available to us. Many Jamaicans and Caribbean people must fly with stopovers and connections in the USA in order to get to our final destination. Sometimes this is the only flight route available to us. The near-global travel ban on American passport holders will ultimately affect how people from the Caribbean will fly. Our choices of where to go might be limited, and flight costs may increase (to recoup the loss of a whole cohort of American travelers). There is a positive though…this might cause us to discover places we wouldn’t normally go.

3. Solo Travel will increase. As a solo travel coach, I’m already seeing an uptick in the number of persons asking me about solo travel. Whether it’s how to be safe while solo travelling, countries that are great for solo travellers, or best activities to do solo, people are already curious and willing to travel alone in order to practise social distancing and be safe on the road.

4. Negative CoVid19 Test Requirements. More and more countries are requiring visitors to show a recent negative COVID19 test before they are being allowed to fly or enter the country.

5. Frequent temperature checks and hand-sanitisation during travel. In Jamaica alone, every business place must provide hand sanitizer for customers and temperature checks are common in larger public spaces. Similarly, countries around the world have adopted their own COVID19 and social distancing protocols.

6. More Staycations and domestic travel. It goes without saying that travelling locally is a good way to stay safe. Now is a good time to get in some domestic travel. Hotspots are no longer crowded, over-tourism is non-existent, and with remote work on the rise there’s more flexible time to travel locally. Plus, there are tons of discounts available to locals now from hotels and other brands as tourism continues to take a beating.

7. Self-Check-in at the airport. More airports are allowing passengers to check-in by themselves using kiosks. I had to do this at JFK on my recent flight to Jamaica, for example.

8. Death to the middle seat. YaY! I dunno bout you, but I am extremely happy that airlines are limiting access to middle seats on planes as part of their in-flight social distancing protocol.

9. Flight prices will fluctuate. Plane tickets will skyrocket at first (people desperate to get home). Then drop crazy cheap (airlines convincing people to fly). Then increase a bit and even out (flying becomes more normalized)

10. COVID19 Insurance Policies. Travel insurance companies may now have to be more direct about how they are handling the pandemic in their packages.

I’d like to hear from you…what other ways you think travel will change? Tell me in the comments.

You may be interested: Check out my YouTube video on my experience being stuck abroad and travelling during the heights of COVID19.

I still believe travel will bounce back and that we can still travel internationally in 2020. Just ensure you travel responsibly and safely.  

Safe travels!