I keep getting this image of a world that has changed radically, but we have come out of hibernation with the pictures in our minds of the world we knew pre-hibernation. We are victims of the Rip Van Winkle syndrome, waking up in a world that is drastically changed from what you remember. Now, in 2023, many of the ravages of Covid are sinking into the past as fading memories. But if we are expecting the world to be as it was before the nightmare, we are likely to get hit with some reality adjustors.

Robert Drumm, the president of Alexander + Roberts, echoed some of the same reports I’ve been hearing. Business is good. Everyone is raring to go. Travelers want to travel; hoteliers want to fill their hotels; destinations are ready to welcome back travelers—but the systems for delivering services are struggling. They are experiencing the same problems that have affected businesses since the onset of Covid, and the dislocations it brought about, including staffing shortages and supply chain disruptions.

“I thought this would have dissipated by ’23,” he said, “but that’s not the case. Some of the more far-flung destinations that we serve are prone to this, but actually Italy is as well. They are short on drivers, short on guides. And yet demand is outstripping capacity there in a lot of ways. Things sell out, not necessarily because demand is outstripping supply but because there are constraints on the system.”

Business is good, so who’s complaining? Well, actually, people who have not adjusted their expectations from pre-Covid times may do some complaining. They may be disappointed in service levels. Yet, as long as you are aware that problems may arise due to difficulties in re-staffing and restarting post-Covid, it shouldn’t put too bad a crimp on things. It’s important for travel advisors to spread the words of the wise: there may be challenges on your trip that you would not have expected in pre-Covid times. They are the same kinds of problems a traveler must always be prepared for, but maybe at a higher frequency than pre-Covid.

Japan

“A good example of that is Japan,” said Drumm. “Japan is booming for us. We’ve sold out so much of our space, certainly for spring, the cherry blossom season. But also the fall is selling very strongly, our festival departures. And yet, it’s almost impossible to do a FIT there now at this moment because of the fact that their systems are not fully engaged yet.”

He passed on a word of warning that has become a chorus in the industry. “There’s a little bit of a disconnect between the American traveler’s expectations,” he said, “and what can be delivered flawlessly on the ground. Travel advisors will be affected by the disconnect because they are on the firing line of satisfying their clients’ requests. It’s important to prepare their clients. A lot of advisors do that now. They’ve learned that the world is not as smooth as silk yet. Maybe it never was, but there are rocky edges. But we’re all moving forward, which is the most important thing.”

Eastern Europe

The good news, there’s a mighty demand for travel out there. I asked him if the war in Ukraine was dampening the demand for travel to Eastern Europe, one of his company’s specialties since the 1950s. He pointed to that region as an example of the resilience in the travel market now.

“We have a group ready to leave for Eastern Europe,” he said. “They’re going to Tblisi, Georgia; Sofia, Bulgaria; then finishing up in Bucharest, Romania. This small group has been trying to do this since the pandemic began, and now they’re able to do it. And even war is not deterring them.”

Now we’re seeing the cherry blossoms in Japan and the continuing gradual emergence from the Age of Covid. Spring is in the air.

“It’s like early spring in travel,” he said, “metaphorically, things are popping up. It’s really an awakening on all sides, an awakening of the desire to go, and an awakening of services on the ground.” And there’s some awkwardness as the industry gets on its feet, as when the newborn foals of spring are first learning to run.

Egypt

One destination that is booming for Alexander + Roberts, without challenges in ground operations, is Egypt.

“Egypt is very strong, and we don’t have any issues there because we have our own team on the ground there. There are still some hotels in Cairo that are not fully open yet, for the same labor constraints we have in this country. But we’re able to operate there pretty seamlessly. And we’re getting ready for the opening of GEM, the Grand Egyptian Museum.

“We don’t know when it’s opening, but they have opened the Grand Entrance Hall, which is a giant hall dominating the center of the museum where there’s an enormous statue of Ramses II. You can enter that area but none of the rooms in the museum are open, and none of the displays. The old Egyptian Museum is still operating downtown. The opening of GEM is imminent, we just don’t know when. There will be another surge in business when that is announced and all the publicity begins.”

Cuba

Travel to Cuba is also back. Demand for Cuba tanked after former President Trump announced in 2017 that he was rolling back President Obama’s loosening of restrictions in 2014. Much of the drop in demand was based on misunderstanding about how much new restriction was actually put in place. People thought the opportunity to travel to Cuba had been cut off, but it was not. Because of perceptions, the demand dropped, and then came Covid. Operators have worked through the new regulations and they know how to make Cuba as accessible as before the last round of regulatory changes.

The Trump restrictions made it illegal for tour operators to use hotels that are owned in part by the government. That eliminated most of the hotels that were being used at the time. After the original scramble to find qualifying hotels, operators are no longer finding that restriction to be a handicap.

“Cuba’s doing fine for us,” said Drumm. “It’s working out well. We use private hotels and restaurants only, operating under aegis of ‘support for the Cuban people.’ We are actually supporting small business. The restrictions were actually a boon.”

Unfortunately, he said, the image of Cuba in the mass media is one of deterioration. “They had hurricanes; they lost power; they had a lot of migration out of country,” he said. “It’s all been blown to the point where people think Cuba is in terrible straits, threadbare. Then you go there and stay in a world-class hotel, small but very nice.”

China

Then there’s China, which was Alexander + Roberts top-selling destination a few years ago. The company’s founder, Alex Harris, was one of the first few American tour operators to go into China after President Nixon opened relations with the country in the 1970s. Now, with current political tensions, the demand for China has dropped. Though A+R has been seeing some resurgence of interest lately, the market continues to be a bit precarious.

“I’m not sure what’s going to happen with China,” said Drumm. “There’s so much bellicosity now between the countries. Of course, it was that way with the Soviet Union.”

Russia

Alexander + Roberts, under its original name General Tours, was one of the first tour operators to take Americans into the Soviet Union in the 1950s during the tensions of the Cold War. Founder Alex Harris wrote to President Eisenhower and got his blessing for operating tours to America’s greatest international rival. Eisenhower believed that “people to people” relations among the regular citizens of rival countries would help maintain world peace.
Now we’re back to what looks like another Cold War, or maybe not so cold. For the very first time since the company started doing tours to the USSR in the 1950s, A+R is not operating to Russia because of the current crisis in Ukraine.

Alex Harris, whose autobiography was entitled Breaking Borders, would be sad to see that. Unfortunately, he would probably not be surprised. Such is life. But life goes on, and travel always comes back. An old hackneyed phrase comes to mind: “God never closes one door without opening another.” Lots of great stuff going on out there in the world of travel. Happy Spring!

David Cogswell is a freelance writer working remotely, from wherever he is at the moment. Born at the dead center of the United States during the last century, he has been incessantly moving and exploring for decades. His articles have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, Fortune, Fox News, Luxury Travel Magazine, Travel Weekly, Travel Market Report, Travel Agent Magazine, TravelPulse.com, Quirkycruise.com, and other publications. He is the author of four books and a contributor to several others. He was last seen somewhere in the Northeast US.