The Pivot

A recent week in Covid quarantine brought back all the feels of those eerie summer months of 2020, making us question…what travel publications preached during those unsettling times when travel was the absolute last thing on our minds and globally declared a huge no no. 

Writing about exploring the world while stuck within the walls of your home is an unsettling oxymoron that involuntarily was our reality. Publications that routinely wrote to inspire and spark adventure with their audiences could then write about what...backyard staycations? 

Investigating the travel questions of the world when the world is not at reach. Image from Pexels.

The reality of life during those sensationally apocalyptic months was something many of us will never forget. Watching news broadcasters stream in live from their living rooms and getting lost in Netflix’s Tiger King series because well, there was nothing else to do. We know it, you know it, those months were simply put, bizarre. The walls in which we lived were our only sense of safety back then. So we question, what in the world were travel publications preaching? Or did they preach at all? 

From airplanes to an at home office. Image from Pexels.

What was it like to write about the great big world, that for the first time was so far out of reach? What was there even to write about? Well, the fact of the matter is that travel publications shifted drastically, pivoting to resiliently survive a time that ceased many forms of work for good. Especially those in the travel industry. Columns that once wrote about the wonders of the world were forced to answering questions on how to receive a flight voucher for canceled vacations or reports on the impact of having no tourism in locations that depend on it. While travel didn’t exist during these months, travelers still did and they, like many of us, had questions that needed to be answered. 

This pivot was crucial and in many ways commendable and impressive. While in a crumbling industry, travel writers vigilantly adapted to the inability of doing the one thing their job is actually about and became leaders in filling the gap of travel ambiguity at the time. It was no longer about rating the best beaches in the South of France or the newest spa in Norway that’s on everyone’s bucket list, it was about taking a step back and looking at the big picture of a situation, recognizing what impact they could make for their audience. 

Travel writers and publications that made such a pivot played a big role in keeping the spirit of adventure alive during some of the darkest times. While news outlets covered cases, travel columns cultivated optimism, being a vital source of inspiration and information in regards to all things travel. Sharing ways to replicate an authentic Italian meal at home or how to reclaim travel cancelations.

While the dark days seem to be behind us, fingers crossed, we continue to see this adaptive trend of responsibility from travel publications. As borders open and the travel industry enters its new form of normal, we can only expect to see more from this resilient profession. With a heavy and consistent emphasis on safety as the new focus, travel writers continue to inform and excite, making the new normal of travel a little less scary.