Those dark days began almost five years ago.
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic, and four days later, U.S. states began to order shutdowns and travel restrictions.
By the end of the month, the European Union had barred nonessential travel from outside the bloc, cruise ships were under a no-sail order in U.S. waters and state governors had issued stay-at-home orders to prevent the spread of the virus. Nonessential travel would be frozen for months.
After Covid vaccines became widely available in the spring of 2021, travel began to rebound, albeit with face coverings mandatory on planes and in transportation hubs. As the masks slowly came off and borders reopened, travelers sought to make up for lost time, a phenomenon known as “revenge travel.”
The freeze quickly turned into a flood as hot spots like Venice, Iceland, Barcelona and Dubrovnik, Croatia, filled with visitors. A dearth of tourism suddenly became overtourism, and many destinations started enacting restrictions and charging fees to dissuade the hordes.
The last five years have been quite a roller coaster. We want to hear how those ups and downs have affected your relationship with travel.
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