At home in the UK, they are still dealing with 40k new coronavirus cases every day but are slowly learning to live with the virus. My sister walks dogs for friends and family and whilst cautious normalcy returns she still advocates most strongly that masks must be worn and social distancing practiced when dealing with people. 

My sister with her dogs in the UK 

A former senior teacher who taught teachers to teach is based in the beautiful village of Cookham in Berkshire. She is out walking her 2 dogs most days along with other dogs that owners ask to be looked after while they are away. She is happy but puts masks on near people. She has twice battled Covid and is very cautious. Here in Thailand, daily figures are a quarter of those back home. Life here is also slowly returning. People are very keen to have normalcy and our government is very keen to keep figures low. 

At the time of going to press Thailand will have administered 93m doses of Covid-19 vaccine, 70% of the population will have received at least 2 doses and a third booster shot will also be widely available too. 

There is no doubting the world has changed. With conventional travel brought to a standstill in 2020 and 2021, most of us have and will continue to explore locally. Staycations and domestic trips are sure to increase. If getting on a plane is considered risky, people will avoid it staying instead closer to home. 

Domestic tourism continues to rise. Staying closer to home will become the norm photo: Wat Chalong / AJWood

The variety and scope of staycations will expand and will again be popular throughout 2022. Many of us are eager to travel internationally but will patiently wait until next year and look instead to discover and explore hidden gems nearer to home, they are easy to access, and may not involve air travel, with the added bonus that local domestic trips are on the whole better for the environment. More specialized and certainly more diverse, whether targeted demographically by age, gender or by our special interests and hobbies, all will be catered for. 

Fironana ho avy amin'ny dia - Nahita fironana lehibe 6 izay mety ho hitantsika amin'ny ho avy aho:

1. Travel agents and travel professionals will become essential
2. Sustainable tourism will soar
3. Small and local communities will benefit
4. Quality over quantity will be paramount
5. Staying closer to home will become the norm
6. Travelling and planning trips is good for you and aids mental health

We all want to book holidays that have cancellation options without penalties. We don’t need the stress and worry and will look for increased flexibility. Thankfully most travel agents, OTAs, airlines, hotels, and car hire companies understand this and offer sensible booking conditions, and are beginning to offer improved terms and policies. With 2020 and 2021 travel being decimated by the pandemic – an incredibly tough two years for the global population, I join my travel industry colleagues in their mostly positive assessments and I’m hopeful that the forced rethinking and re-engineering of the whole travel industry will lead to better travel practices in 2022 and beyond. 

Hevitra avy amin'ny Skål International Thailand

President Wolfgang Grimm Skål International Thailand

In chatting with Wolfgang Grimm, National President Thailand of Skål International the professional association of the travel and tourism industry here, when asked how confident he was that tourism to Thailand will rebound, he said “International tourism will grow gradually in 2022, people’s desire to experience smiling faces, great affordable food and breathtaking cultural and natural landscapes is still there but the process is complex.