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On the road again

Leo Mirani: senior Britain correspondent, The Economist

Holidays in 2021 will be fewer, longer and closer to home

Beached

Going abroad, although possible, will remain a hassle

2021 in brief

Artemis 1, the first (and uncrewed) flight of NASA’s Orion capsule and Space Launch
System heavy-lift rocket, is due to launch in November. If all goes well, a crewed mission,
Artemis 2, will perform a lunar fly-by in 2023

THIS MUCH is certain: travel in 2021 will be easier than in 2020. More flights will take
off and land. A greater number of countries will welcome visitors. There will be fewer
restrictions. But those gains will come, as statisticians like to say, from a very low base.
After a year in which flights came to a near-complete standstill, many countries closed
their borders and those that still allowed visitors imposed onerous restrictions, even
the slightest loosening will be a welcome improvement.

The signs are encouraging. By September 2020, 115 of the 217 destinations tracked by
the UN World Tourism Organisation had loosened their travel restrictions. Global hotel-