Five Years On From Covid: How the Pandemic Reshaped Travel

It’s hard to believe that five years have passed since COVID brought the world to a standstill. In 2019, travel was a $10.3 trillion global industry, accounting for 10.5% of all jobs worldwide, yet it faced the unimaginable: a complete standstill. It wasn’t until May 2024 that the World Economic Forum declared, "Tourism is back to pre-pandemic levels." The impact was devastating for millions, but were there any positives that emerged from the pandemic?

For Far & Wild, it was a time to act. We launched Ride 4 Rangers in partnership with Tusk, rallying the travel industry to fundraise and support Africa’s wildlife rangers during the crisis. Thanks to the incredible support across the industry, Ride 4 Rangers raised over £400,000, ensuring rangers could continue their essential work protecting wildlife and habitats.

Longer term, how has the pandemic reshaped our attitudes toward travel? Since its onset, 61% of travellers report wanting to choose more sustainable options. Searches for “sustainable travel” grew by 142.6% between April 2019 and April 2022.

At Far & Wild, we’ve embraced this shift. We developed the world’s first carbon-scoring framework for tailor-made travel, making the methodology open source to inspire change across the industry.

We also launched our Wilder Guidebook series, designed to promote more sustainable travel.

The latest guidebook in the series, Kenya, written by experts Jan Fox and Ben Morison, our CEO, showcases a country at the forefront of some of the most innovative ideas in the increasingly overlapping areas of conservation and tourism. (Buy Wilder Guides)

We’re proud to place sustainability at the core of everything we do. From email campaigns to social media, we now exclusively promote properties that meet our sustainability standards. For every traveller who books with us, we donate $50 to one of our charity partners - raising over $32,000 so far.

Through our partnership with Ecologi, 98% of our clients choose to offset their carbon footprint. Together, we’ve helped fund the planting of more than 2,590 trees and supported projects that have removed over 84 tonnes of CO₂ from the atmosphere.

The past five years have been transformative for the travel industry. While the challenges were significant, they’ve accelerated a shift towards more responsible travel. We’re proud to be part of that change, ensuring that sustainability is not a sideline, but a central part of every journey.