Pre-pandemic, it seemed that the multi-trillion-dollar travel and tourism industry was set to reach newer and higher heights with each passing year. Despite environmental concerns, more and more people were flying every single day, thanks to the introduction of low-cost flights that made travel more accessible and commonplace.
But then, everything changed when COVID-19 hit. Never before has the travel sector and all of its affiliate businesses been faced with such a brutal hit. Global travel restrictions have grounded planes, decimated the food and beverage industry, and left millions jobless. Businesses are scrambling to devise ways to cope with the situation—restaurants have resorted to becoming kitchens for delivery services, yoga studios are hosting online classes, and tourism boards have taken to creating virtual reality experiences for people to travel in place, from the comfortable cesspool of their own home.
People have taken to social media to express the almost feverish yearning to see foreign cultures again; it seems that travel has become such an integral part of everyday life that having it ripped away so suddenly and so completely has taken a heavy toll. There are only so many travel videos and pictures you can look at, none of which are adequate substitutes for the real thing. What we need is a way to travel without travelling—cue sightseeing flights.