21/12/2020
Just a note about travel during the pandemic….
I see a lot of people posting on social media that travel should be banned and that people shouldn’t be going on vacation and everyone should be at home etc. As a business travel agent I would like to give people a few facts about travel during the pandemic.
95% of current travel is not vacation travel. People are not waiting months to get special visa and permission to travel to Covid infested locations to hang out in closed hotels, closed beaches, closed restaurants or cancelled activities. This is not fun. This is not vacation. There ARE however destinations people can go to that have LESS Covid than where they live and therefore have LESS chance of getting it than they do at their local supermarket. These people are required to take the necessary precautions to protect themselves and other during the trip and upon their return.
Travel is good for 10% of the WORLD ECONOMY. Yeah, you read that right. So it’s not just a luxury. Many many destinations we frequent depend on us for their survival and are often countries whose social network is NOT able to compensate their losses during this pandemic. People will literally starve and die. So considering were trying to PREVENT the dying.. it’s not just about our rich Western country’s dying. It has to be a measured and global approach.
Besides the debate about vacation travel, I would like to destroy the myth that business travelers are only men in suits with briefcases on their way to a meeting in a foreign city that could easily be done on Zoom. My corporate client are businesses in the food and food processing sectors. Their technical employees are deemed essential workers/travellers and why? Because they make sure there is food in your grocery store and toys in stock for you to put under the Christmas tree.
My clients make/install/maintain loading dock doors and lifts. Yes, the ones that EVERY distribution center in the world uses to make sure your products can be delivered to your door while you are safe and sound in your home ordering online, staying safe and complaining about all the travel.
My clients make/install/maintain giant dust collection installations used in factories, food processing plants and many other uses. Those companies cannot operate without dust extraction. They cannot process your fresh food and package it and ship it to your grocery store.
My clients make/install/maintain giant sorting machines. YES, just like the ones postal services use to get you your cards and letters on time. And YES, just like the ones Amazon and Bol and all the other zillions of webshops are using right now to Get. Your. Christmas. Gifts. To. You. On. Time.
My clients make/install/maintain agricultural machinery. Machines that pick dates in the desert. Machines that can sort millions of tonnes of onions and potatoes, machines that sort and select and package and palatize fresh produce that you need to make Christmas dinner.
My clients are not men in suits going to London for a quick meeting. They are companies fighting to stay alive and provide for their many employees and those families by taking all possible precautions, going through exhaustive months long visa processes and sending dedicated people around the globe during a pandemic to make sure those machines that no one ever thinks about but are crucial to our survival, keep running. They leave their families at home and they take risks with their own health and safety to get the job done. It’s called the economy. And we would not be in our warm safe houses at our computers or on our phones ordering Christmas to appear at our doors without them.
So maybe before you consider banning all travel no matter what you might keep my clients in mind. They’re doing their best to make sure we get what we need to survive this mess. They’re also on the front lines. They deserve our respect and our gratitude. And the three I still have stranded in England deserve to be home with their families this Christmas.
