As more and more vaccines are being distributed globally, travel confidence has steadily increased over the past 5 months.
Based on the latest statistics from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), travel throughput in the United States has steadily risen for most parts of 2021. Numbers inched close to 2 million passengers at the end of May thanks to the Memorial Day weekend with 1,959,593 traveling on May 28 and 1,900,170 on May 31.
These numbers are inspiring because just a year ago the story was completely different as daily travel numbers barely crossed 300,000, and rose slightly during the July/August period and closer to the U.S. elections.
While full recovery is still a couple years away, steady vaccination trends, falling positive cases and relaxed travel restrictions have incentivized people to take to the skies once again. In the United States, 50% have received received their first shot while 41% have been fully vaccinated (as of this post’s publication date). It won’t be surprising to see numbers crossing 2 million as we get closer to July, but that’s where it may level off given that some major countries still have quarantine restrictions that might not seem appealing to everyone just yet.
Unfortunately it’s going to be some time before we see the heightened safety measures disappear as masks, social distancing and COVID-19 testing (depending on where you are headed to) are still going to be in place for some time.
[Featured Photo: Marco Verch Professional Photographer/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)]