There's no other way to start this opinion piece than to state the obvious.
Things look dire for the travel industry.
This coronavirus is Mike Tyson in his prime - not only unbeatable but downright overpowering and scary. No cruise trips, no international airline flights, the potential for possible restrictions on domestic airline travel looming, hotels shuttered, Las Vegas - Las Vegas! - closed for business … it's like end-of-days, apocalypse, The Rapture-type stuff.
Yet my optimism has never been higher.
Not because this might seem like a Pollyannaish column from a writer whose existence depends on travel but, rather, from a travel writer with an appreciation for history.
And history tells us this: We will always have travel.
We. Will. Always. Have. Travel.
Travel is resilient. Travel is a stalwart. Travel has the ability to get off the deck, regroup, change, improve and return with a stubbornness few other industries exhibit.
Think about how far back travel goes because it's amazing. Go past the technology we know today, go past the Wright Brothers, go beyond the steamships and riverboats, go beyond horse-and-carriage. And know this - in 170 A.D. the Greek geographer and military officer Pausanias wrote 'Guide to Greece' for visiting Roman tourists.
Imagine?
Or, even before that, perhaps the greatest travel story of all - no room at the inn for Mary and Joseph to stay and deliver their son. Sold out at Christmastime, the story of all our lives.
For centuries, travel has been halted by various setbacks. Plagues, for instance. Oh boy, lots of plagues. Travel has been plagued by the plague. The Antonine Plague of 165 A.D., the Plague of Justinian in 541, the Bubonic Plague in 1347, plagues in the 17th and 18th centuries and The Third Plague in 1855.
And still, travel bounced back.
Flu? Asian, Hong Kong, Spanish Russian and Swine.
And still, travel bounced back.
We've had Yellow Fever, Cholera, Small Pox, SARS, MERS, Ebola and Zika.
And still, travel bounced back.
We've had warfare, too numerous to mention, ranging from local conflicts to revolutions to global war.
And still, travel bounced back.
And why did it bounce back? A combination of the natural wanderlust and desire to explore by people, and advancements in the way that travel is offered by the industry. That resilience, that wanderlust, has allowed people to stand in front of the Eiffel Tower, to tour the ruins of the Roman Colosseum, to stand on the Great Wall of China, to ponder how the pyramids were built. We put a man on the moon, for the love of God.
At any moment, down through the course of history, somebody could have said 'no.' No, I'm not going there. No, I'm not building that. No, I'm not offering this horse to ride to the next town, this inn to stay at.
Now comes the coronavirus. This might be the greatest challenge of all because of the rapid advancement of the disease and the speed at which it moves - and yes, to be fair, travel plays a huge part in that although it is neither the source nor the blame.
But travel will be back. We are already learning on the fly, pardon the pun, both individually (wash those hands!) and as a business (enhanced screening process).
Just look at history. We will always have travel.
Not tomorrow. Not next month. But travel is resilient.
See you on the flight to Paris.
For the latest travel news, updates and deals, subscribe to the daily TravelPulse newsletter.
Topics From This Article to Explore
