With most of the United States reopening, including California, travelers are looking to get away. TSA screenings of travelers surpassed the two million mark for the first time since the pandemic started.
“A lot of people who have gotten the vaccine are ready to go,” Ron Biglin, owner of Kern Travel said.
Where are travelers headed: vacation. This is the first pandemic summer post-vaccine: Governor Newsom announced Monday that 72 percent of Californians over 18 have at least one shot in the arm.
According to a statement from Airports Director of Meadows Field Airport, Mark Witsoe, “our statistics demonstrate that Kern County has rebounded to pre-pandemic levels. Local travel is busier now than the same period in 2019 and over 400 percent greater in comparison to the pandemic downturn.”
Biglin said his travel advising company has even seen an influx of new clients this year, after the pandemic hit the travel industry so hard that some travel agencies didn’t make it.
“So there are people who need a new travel advisor, but there are a lot of people who don’t trust online because they got burned last year, or for whatever reason, so they’re calling us,” Biglin said.
Travelers, he said, have booked destinations like Hawaii and Mexico.
“Hawaii is extremely difficult to get for the balance of this year, and contrary to what people think, the prices are up. People think there are deals out there, but that’s not the case,” Biglin said.
Also going fast: international travel bookings for cruise and land vacations to Mexico, Hawaii and the Caribbean, as far ahead as 2022.
“For instance, I have some clients who wanted to do a river cruise in April of ‘22, and the first day I could get them a cabin was the last Saturday in May. So, the entire spring and particularly the itinerary they wanted, which was the Ryan River, was completely sold out,” Biglin said. “I would say if you want to start booking for ‘22, you have to start thinking seriously about getting plans in place.”
The CDC does recommend delaying travel until you are fully vaccinated. However, they say if you must travel these are the recommendations for those not fully vaccinated.
