RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – (ANBA) Whereas early on in the pandemic whatever foreign travel from Brazil was taking place was accounted for by executives and the younger demographic, now that vaccination is on the horizon, older tourists are beginning to seek travel packages and flight tickets.
The prospects of vaccination are prompting Brazilians to purchase international tickets and travel packages. This is particularly true of the older demographic, who are hoping to be immunized soon.
“The demand is strong as early as the second half of 2021 because everyone’s optimistic about vaccinations,” said Marcos Destro, one of the owners of travel agency Líder Corporate Eventos & Lazer. Known as Líder Corp, the firm has made travel packages available for the second half of2021 for people above 50. “Older people are buying more trips than the young, because they will have been immunized by the middle of the year. Younger people are seeking the 2022 holiday season and Carnaval,” he says.
Ever since the pandemic broke out, Líder Corp saw corporate travel account for the bulk of its business. “The corporate market never stopped. It did slow down. Early into the pandemic it got as slow as 30% of our habitual sales, but now we’re at 60% to 70%,” says Destro. He imputes this to the fact that in times of crisis, executives must go abroad to find business opportunities for their companies.
Prior to the pandemic, elderly people accounted for 80% of business for travel agency and tour operator EGP Viagens. Its clientele has since shifted towards the younger crowd. “But I believe this is only temporary, and that after vaccinations, elderly people will get traveling again,” EGP owner Mohammed Darwich of Egypt argues.
According to him, Brazilian people have been buying tickets for after the vaccine since last November. “The elderly are buying for the end of this year. Those who bought tickets for the next two months are postponing their trips. They would rather get a shot and then travel,” he claims, adding the sought-after destinations include Egypt and Dubai, in the UAE.
Travel Plus owner Renato Aureliano is also witnessing a rebound in travel. When the pandemic came, he recalls, airlines put international tickets on sale. Most of those tickets haven’t been used, and they are being rescheduled for July and October of this year – some customers are waiting until rescheduling gets extended into mid-2022, which some carriers have already done. The agency issued lots of tickets to the United States, whose borders are currently closed to Brazilian travelers.
Many of the usual destinations are currently not accepting Brazilians, due to new Covid-19 variants found in the country. As a result, Darwich points out that Egypt, Dubai, Turkey and the Maldives are the most sought-after destinations at EGP.
Egypt’s and the Maldives’ borders are still open to flights from Brazil. Flights from Brazil to Dubai were allowed from the second half of 2020 until early February but have been suspended until February 10. Turkey has shut down its borders to flights from Brazil. “Things are really complicated right now with this second variant of the coronavirus. We need to wait it out, keep working and have faith that this will soon be over. We fulfill people’s dreams. Traveling is a need Brazilian people have these days, and we try to make that dream come true in the best possible way,” he says.
Líder Corp, which offers packages and tickets to the Arab world, is seeing consistent demand for leisure trips to Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. “Business stopped only while local airports were closed,” says Destro, who saw 230 passengers travel to Lebanon in July, and 320 in August. The Arab destination took the biggest hit from the pandemic, since it’s a business hub. Dubai travel had been picking up, but then flights got temporarily suspended, he said.
Líder Corp boasts dedicated divisions to handle corporate travel, leisure travel, group travel, events, and support to missions. Its trips to Lebanon are offered via GoToBey, targeting Arab immigrants and descendants looking to see their families back home.
At Travel Plus, besides the rescheduling of fire-sale tickets, sales of holiday season trips to the Caribbean were strong. “We sold lots of packages for the Caribbean because restrictions aren’t as strict when it comes to travelers from Brazil. Whoever bought Europe or the United States couldn’t go,” says Aureliano. Demand for trips to Arab countries have been week, except when it came to trade shows early into this year.
As for domestic travel in Brazil, he claims there is demand for country resorts that people can drive to. He also said that towards the end of the year, demand was very strong for Trancoso, Bahia. “Some of our clients that used to go abroad are seeing the countryside. Because of their age, they would rather make the drive to resorts in countryside São Paulo, the Rio de Janeiro coast, Búzios, Paraty,” says Aureliano.