Is it possible to plan your holiday now… here’s a travel experts prediction.

“Remember the good ‘ol days?”

Usually a quote reserved for an old man, reminiscing in a rocking chair about Disco’s in the 70’s or the Summer of love in the 60’s. Now it feels like all of us are feeling that quote sentiment with holidays seeming a distant memory, like a Polaroid being slowly faded and discoloured by the suns rays.

So ever the optimists we’re wondering, is it possible to still plan your holidays at the minute?

Ina recent social media survey by the World Travel & Tourism Council, a stunning 92% of holidaymakers would still book a holiday for the future. It seems not even a pandemic can quell the wanderlust of the travel community.

Ant Clarke Cowell from HolidayExtras said: “British holidaymakers want to get back to travelling as soon as it’s safe to do so,” in speaking to the Express.

“According to our most recent survey, 75 percent of Britons expect to go on holiday before the end of the year and 16 percent say they’ll get on the first plane the government declares safe.”

In polls it’s thought that around 9/10 people in the UK take a holiday every year and I’m sure much of the country are hoping that’s a stat we can maintain.

“Airlines and airports are already preparing to make it safe to fly after the lockdown by planning for planes to be less full and testing travellers before and after they fly,” Adam stated.

“Emirates is already testing during pre-boarding at Dubai Airport.

“In addition, we’re seeing some resorts advertising the precautions they’re taking to keep visitors safe once lockdowns end and the industry itself is clearly very keen for things to get back to normal: Jet2.com says it intends to recommence flying in mid-June; EasyJet plans to keep the middle seats on its flights vacant to maintain social distancing; and IATA (The International Air Transport Association) is updating its guidelines on how airlines can prevent the spread of the disease.”

It should also be noted the global economy depends on tourism to a large extent. 75 million jobs could be lost worldwide if tourism and travel is to continue taking a serious hit.

Adam also continued to say: “Travel and tourism account for a large part of the global economy - the Maldives makes the majority of its money from tourism and even in Europe tourism accounts for approximately a third of the economy; 20 percent in Iceland, 20 percent in Greece and 15% in Spain.

“So there are enormous incentives not just for travel companies and insurers but also governments to work together and find solutions that get people who want to travel back on planes as soon as it’s safe to do so.”

There is light at the end of the tunnel but prices might take a while to return to normal.

“Coronavirus tests for people getting on planes and for everyone working in travel will need to be paid for,” he said.

“Travel insurance may become more expensive depending on how risks are assessed and some flight operators expecting to run their planes at reduced capacity may need to charge more for the remaining seats.

“However, with so much spare hotel capacity resorts will be competing hard for business, so there should be some good news on prices too and bargains available for travellers willing to shop around.”

It should also be noted that whilst intuition would dictate Britons would favour local travel post lockdown, it may not be safer since many regions especially in Asia are faring much better with the pandemic.

Adam explained: “If it’s less likely, or considered less likely, that people will become infected at home than overseas then perhaps we’ll see a surge in staycations, but there’s no obvious reason currently to believe that after lockdown ends the UK will be significantly safer to move around than, for example, the beaches we usually visit at our nearest European neighbours.”

“Before the coronavirus outbreak, a lot of us took our holidays by flying to a beach resort for a week or two to enjoy the sun,’ he said.

“With sensible precautions to test both holidaymakers before they fly and local teams working in-resort, as well as limiting or perhaps even completely prohibiting contact between tourists and the wider local population outside the resort, that sort of beach resort holiday should pose a relatively little risk either to holidaymakers or the countries they visit.

“A lot of destinations are very well set up with resorts to run holidays like this - the Canaries, the Costa Del Sol, the larger Greek islands, the Red Sea coast etc.

“On this basis, package holidays that include flights, secure resort accommodation and transit from the airport could resume fairly quickly after lockdown.” With this in mind, it’s fair to say that Britons could return to planning their adventures provided they’re sensible about it and stay aware of the up-to-date news and travel advice.