Travel Changes in a Post COVID-19 World
By Sarah Bessette
Travel has become more stressful, economical, and health-conscious since the COVID-19 pandemic struck in early 2020.
Avid traveler Megan Murphy has traveled across the world before the birth of her two children but has found much has changed since the pandemic hit.
“The pandemic has made traveling more difficult and stressful, but I still love it,” Murphy said. “Everything has become more stressful because if you get sick, you can lose all of your money.”
According to the Journal of Transportation Research, COVID-19 has had a vast impact on people’s travel behavior. 41% of business travelers are expecting fewer flights.
Patricia Mead, the program coordinator for the office of International Programs at Stonehill College, said fewer students are traveling to study abroad than before the pandemic.
“We currently have 36 students in the current cohort abroad for fall 2022, which is a bit lower than normal,” Mead said.
The Journal of Social and Political Sciences found many people are not traveling now because the pandemic has changed tourists’ risk perception levels and made them more cautious of the locations they intend to travel to.
Many students also are choosing not to travel abroad or participate in study abroad due to the potential health risks.
“Students are being more cautious, but also missed out on a lot of their campus experiences,” Mead said.
Murphy, the traveler, knows the post-pandemic travel struggles firsthand as she planned to travel to Brazil with her daughters in 2020, but it was canceled due to the pandemic. The thought of international travel during a deadly pandemic was too great of a risk.
Murphy still intends to travel to Switzerland this fall despite a friend catching COVID-19 during a trip to Bulgaria and spending her vacation in quarantine.
“Even having a miserable trip, she still encouraged me to go,” said Murphy.
Kaelie Piscitello, a junior at Salve Regina University, studied abroad in England from January to May 2022.
“I had never traveled alone before,” she said. She faced many challenges with traveling abroad during the pandemic.
Piscitello noticed that there were large differences in how countries abroad were handling the pandemic in contrast to the United States.
As she traveled throughout Europe, Piscitello said that different countries handled COVID-19 differently.
“In Italy, I wasn’t able to get on a bus because I didn’t have a specific type of mask,” said Piscitello. “I had to buy one to board the bus.”
Despite the interference of the pandemic, Piscitello had a surreal experience when abroad.
“I think you should do everything you can because you never know what opportunities there are,” she said.
Piscitello’s friend sent emails to prominent fashion houses in Paris, prompting the two to attend fashion shows they would have never considered attending.
“Many students would not think about being able to attend these shows because they seem like they are only for rich people or influencers, but we were able to go without any of those things,” Piscitello said.
Mead noticed that there has been an increase in students wanting to go on short-term faculty-led trips in the summer.
“This can work for people’s personal and academic goals,” Mead said.
College of Charleston student Emily Falcone expressed interest in traveling abroad with her school’s “Maymester,” a program offered by her college for members of different majors to explore their disciplines abroad.
“It’s two weeks in Europe you go to Brussels, Paris, and other places to see ballets and operas,” she said. “It is a great opportunity to both travel and experience things from my major.”
The Office of International Programs at Stonehill works with students’ majors to work with their academic requirements abroad.
“We require students to attend advising and find the schools and countries that best align with their classes and will transfer back to Stonehill,” said Mead.
The college’s intent to enroll form will be sent out in late December to early January for any students with a GPA of 2.75 or above who may have an interest in traveling abroad for the fall 2023 semester.
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