Managing Director at The Travel Compass in Yass Uschi Howard says that whilst international travel appears a while away, domestic travel is currently incredibly popular.

“The news in travel is that our borders are going to be closed as they say officially until mid next year if not later, and I think by mid next year we will probably have a bit more than New Zealand, we might have the South Pacific but it’s now all about travelling within Australia.”

“People have their bucket lists that they beforehand might’ve said ‘that’s too expensive, for that, I can go to Paris or the U.S’ and now they’re saying ‘well we can’t go to Paris or the U.S and it doesn’t matter how expensive it is so let’s do it’,” she said.

The “bucket list” items currently require a bit of time and planning, as many people share similar ideas when it comes to a domestic holiday.

“You will struggle to get onto the Indian Pacific this year, so everybody’s got the same idea,”

“I would say if there’s a bucket list item you want to do, come and talk to me and I’ll give you the reality check of ‘you can’t do this next week, even though you think nobody is travelling there’s a lot of people travelling’,”

There are options to pre-book international holidays for 2023, but Uschi suggested steering clear of those options, with so much uncertainty remaining around the world due to the pandemic.

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“There is stuff you can book for 2023 already like world cruises, but again you have to pay a deposit, put money down and then you don’t know whether you’ll get it back.”

“You’ll always get it back in the form of a credit, but so many people have so many credits they’re getting a bit blase about it,” she said.

Uschi also suggested to those that are opposed to being vaccinated, that they should get used to the idea of not being able to leave the country when borders do finally open.

“The vaccine will help and if you want to travel in the future you’ll have to have a vaccine.”

“A lot of people say ‘well I don’t want to be forced to have a vaccine’, but when people used to go to obscure Asian destinations or Africa or South America, they had to have typhoid, yellow fever, hepatitis shots and people would do it without even asking another question,” he said.

The travel industry is no doubt one of the hardest-hit industries due to the pandemic, with Uschi making a plea to those with holidays to book in Yass, to consider using her services.

“Use your local travel agent because if you don’t they’re going to die!”

“If we survive the next three or four years it could go back to some decent exposure, but we need the support of the clients to make that happen,” she said.

Max O’Driscoll