Is it ethical to travel during the COVID-19 pandemic?

The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has affected every single person on Earth with so sign of its adverse effects and spread subsiding anytime soon. It has uprooted our sense of normality and our plans for the future.

The tourism, hospitality, and airline industries are in a dramatic fight for survival, hoping for better fortunes in 2021 as the battle against COVID-19 rages on with more firepower in the form of effective vaccines.

Since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the spreading of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus situation as a pandemic on 11th March 2020, it is estimated that one billion fewer people travelled in 2020 when compared to 2019, representing a fall of 70 percent.

While there are substantially less people travelling, there are still some people travelling overseas, each person travelling for different reasons and motivations.

With travelling in mind, is it ethical to travel during a pandemic? Is it right? Is it wrong?

In this article you will read reasons why you should travel and why you shouldn’t travel during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many countries have tourism (and related activities) as a major industry and contributor to their economies and GDP (Gross Domestic Product).

Because of reduced people travelling overseas, many businesses that are reliant on tourists are suffering and are on the verge of bankruptcy, if not already closed due to the massive reduction in tourists visiting and spending money.

Think about how many different interconnected industries and businesses are reliant on tourists – airlines, transportation agencies, hotels, hostels, Airbnb apartments, restaurants, cafes, bars, food suppliers, rental vehicle companies, tour companies, tour guides – these are just a few of the many businesses intertwined in the tourism industry.

Many businesses have either furloughed staff or made some staff redundant, or have closed their doors forever, resulting in multiple job losses. Multiple this situation by thousands and you’ll have an economic crisis.

In Spain, tourism accounts for 12.7% of its employment (around 2.4 million people are employed directly or indirectly in the tourism industry according to 2019 statistics) and generates 12.3% of its GDP (total GDP is around €1.12 trillion Euros). In 2020, the number of tourists dropped by 77% when compared to 2019 figures – there were 83.7 million visitors to Spain in 2019, spending around €92 billion, the biggest yet and the visitor figure was projected to grow as tourist numbers had been growing consistently. The tourism loss expenditure is estimated to be around €100 billion in 2020 which is obviously a massive economic loss.

From a global perspective, there has been an estimated USD$1.3 trillion loss in revenue in the tourism industry and has placed between 100 million and 120 million jobs directly at risk.

To travel to another country right now where tourism is vital to the economy is great in keeping those local businesses surviving and keeping people employed, therefore helping to support their livelihoods and families reliant on the income from the job or business. Your tourist dollars help to keep businesses surviving and keep food on the table of many families and a roof over their heads.

For some people, to travel right now is the best time for them due to factors that may not allow such leisure again anytime soon, such as studies, starting a family or saving towards a house, for example. It’s now or never for some people.

Certain working holiday visas are age-restricted so some people want to go abroad to work and travel while they still have the opportunity – they may not have the opportunity again. Perhaps a great business or studying opportunity has come up that may never appear again – would you want to give up that amazing opportunity due to the pandemic?

Some people need to travel to be with their family, especially if a family member may not be alive for much longer. Travel, in such cases, is essential. Time is something that cannot be rewind or purchased with money for more of it, especially so for time spent with loved ones.

While many countries have closed their borders to foreigners, there are some countries with re-opened borders, either allowing all foreigners or certain nationals to enter (with certain conditions such as producing some kind of medical certificate for a negative test for COVID-19 and purchased medical insurance). Such countries (at time of writing) include Albania, Austria, Cambodia, Cyprus, Cuba, Greenland, Jordan, and Montenegro.

To live in fear is not living. To cower in fear because of COVID-19 is not a good way to live life – your way of life. Why should you change your way of life because of some virus?

Many people have lost their lives and many more have been severely altered in an irreparable way, whether physically and/or mentally.

That’s why it’s important to live life while you can – you only live life once, right?

How many people have died without achieving any of their dreams, including their travel aspirations? They keep saying “Oh, one day I’ll do it”. For some people, that “one day” will never come now. That’s why travelling during a pandemic can be seen as still appropriate when you want to make the most of life and live it as normal as possible despite the circumstances affected by COVID-19.

But do remember:

COVID-19 doesn’t care about your feelings or principles, your health, how much money you have, your travel aspirations, or many likes you got on that fire Instagram post of you lying on that picturesque beach on Mallorca sipping a cocktail.

Below are the reasons why you shouldn’t travel during the pandemic.

The most obvious reason to not travel during an active pandemic is to reduce the chances of being infected by COVID-19 and have your health adversely affected, perhaps irreversibly.

Some people don’t suffer any of the virus’s symptoms or have mild effects such as a fever, loss of smell or a mild cough or pneumonia. Some people have been hospitalised suffering from dyspnea (shortness of breath), hypoxia (lack of oxygen in the body), or respiratory failure.

Some people who were infected with COVID-19, and have since recovered from having the virus in their body, are still suffering. These people are known as post-COVID “Long Haulers” who are still experiencing the effects of the virus, such as fatigue, body aches, shortness of breath, and difficulty concentrating.

Travelling for pleasure and self-gratification during a world-shattering crisis can be considered to many as selfish when there is so much suffering caused by the coronavirus. People are suffering mentally or physically from the fallout of the pandemic. Countless people have lost jobs, businesses, incomes, relationships, homes, barely surviving day-to-day, or most importantly, have lost loved ones to the virus – but you want to travel to Spain to get some sun because you feel sad you don’t have a tan or can’t add another country to your travel number or flag emoji list for better clout for strangers on the internet? How tragic.

How can travelling for the sake of pleasure during an active pandemic be justified when there are untold amounts of human suffering either created or exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic where the effects of it will be felt for years and generations to come?

You could argue that there has always been human suffering (civil wars, famine, poverty, human trafficking, homelessness, to name just a few) so what’s the difference? The difference is that this kind of human suffering can be personally infectious where you can end up being the cause of that suffering.

There is always a chance, even if it is low, where you inadvertently catch COVID-19 and pass it onto family and friends, thus infecting them and making them incredibly sick or worse, dead.

Not wanting to stop the 2020 summer holiday season for economic reasons, Spain allowed quarantine-free travel for people from England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. And you know what happened next?

These travellers unknowingly took back to the UK a Spanish variant of COVID-19, contributing to the cause of the pandemic’s second wave in Europe where in Wales and Scotland this Spanish variant made up 80% of infections and in England it made up 50% in mid-September. The UK has been affected the worst in Europe with over 4.2 million infections and over 125,000 deaths at the timing of writing.

Do you want to be responsible for someone’s death just because you wanted to go relax in another country? Do you want to be responsible for killing Grandma after you infected her with COVID-19 when you came back from your overseas holiday? I don’t think there is a sympathy Hallmark card with the words “Soz I killed you Grandma by infecting you with coronavirus when I hugged you” – it’s a bit wordy.

If you do travel overseas, there is always a possibility of a new COVID-19 outbreak or mutated strain causing unexpected border closures or unscheduled airline changes that may leave you stranded overseas. What you will do then? How will it affect your employment? (if you can’t work remotely) Would you have enough money to survive before being able to fly home? In addition, depending on your home country’s policy for returning travellers, you may need to self-isolate for up to two weeks at your residence or at a designated quarantine facility (typically hotels) at your own cost.

Stranded halfway across the world

When the coronavirus outbreak was exponentially growing across the world in early 2020, I found myself stuck in India when the borders were hastily shut by the Indian government in March on the evening it was announced! This meant there were no commercial flights allowed in or out of the country. I had two flights cancelled due to extended lockdowns (one of which I never got my money back and will never – thanks, Malaysia Airlines). I was stuck in India for a month and a half before I was able to get a repatriation flight home courtesy of the Australian Government (instead of the New Zealand Government).

If you happen to get infected with COVID-19 in a foreign country that results in medical treatment at a hospital, you may not be covered by your travel insurance provider (if the insurance cover doesn’t cover pandemic-related claims) and you could potentially be faced with significant medical expenses.

Another situation is where you are unknowingly infected with the coronavirus in your home country and travel to another country and end up infecting the locals there.

Travelling is the primary driver in spreading COVID-19 across the world so effortlessly. This is why there were (and still are) so many strict travel restrictions in place across many countries to stop as many possible infections from breaching individual borders – not to mention the national, regional and local lockdowns aimed at curbing the spread of the virus.

The pandemic isn’t about you.

It’s about everyone on this fragile planet.

One little action can have massive butterfly consequences affecting others.

In Auckland (New Zealand), a young student who was potentially carrying the virus (he was a close contact of an infected family member) had a COVID-19 test. Instead of isolating at home until the results were known, he chose to go to a local gym to work out. It was discovered out later that the COVID-19 test came back positive. Because of this result and the student not self-isolating when he should have been and potentially spreading the virus to others at the gym and other locations, it led to a week-long lockdown in Auckland city where schools and non-essential businesses (such as gyms, hotels, restaurants, and cafes) had to shut, costing millions of dollars in lost business.

You only live life once – so why risk it for some frivolous adventure overseas when it’s not necessary? You can always travel later once you have been fully vaccinated. Your health (and the health of others) is irreplaceable. Once your health is irrevocably fucked… well, it’s irrevocably fucked – and no amount of money or thoughts and prayers is going to bring it back to normal.

COVID-19 has changed the world forever. We won’t go back to exactly to how we lived and travelled. Some things would have changed from the insignificant to the life-altering, from individuals to community groups – whether it’s how and where you work, perhaps new views on life, additional health-related checks at the airport, extra paperwork (such as potentially a vaccination certificate) or expenses in travelling, widened socio-economic inequalities that have long lasting repercussions in both developed and developing countries, or accelerated innovations related to healthcare, technology and renewable energy, for example.

So, is it appropriate to travel during a pandemic crisis?

It’s up to you.

It’s how much you value your own life and the lives of others.

Are you travelling out of necessity or leisure?

Would your life change significantly if you didn’t travel for a while?

Whatever you decide to do, remember to take steps to protect yourself and others (whether at home or abroad) while the COVID-19 pandemic is still raging:

Wear a mask (and change it or wash it regularly).

Practice social distancing.

Don’t touch your face.

Sanitise your hands.

Don’t pet or touch animals.

Avoid wet markets or markets overcrowded with animals.

Avoid open-air street food stalls (especially if the stall is next to a busy road – there tends to be a lot of microscopic pollutants landing on the food).

Get vaccinated as soon as you can to protect yourself and spreading the coronavirus to others.

Be kind and patient (even when there is no pandemic).

In time, there will be a sense of a somewhat familiar normality in life, including in the realm of travelling. No matter what, travellers will always travel (again, eventually).

Question is, where you will travel to next?

Now it’s your turn to comment – do you think it’s okay to travel during a pandemic? Why? Why not?

Let others and me know.

Country Economy. Spain GDP – Gross Domestic Product.

Davis, N. (30 October 2020). The Guardian. Coronavirus strain from Spain accounts for most UK cases – study.

Díaz, A. (4 February 2020). Statista. Year-on-year variation of international tourists in Spain due to the coronavirus crisis in 2020, by country of residence.

Dombey, D. (9 February 2021). Financial Times. Can Spanish tourism survive a second Covid summer?

Hadjicostis, M., Pylas, P., Hatton, B. (29 July 2020). AP. ‘Second wave’ virus fears strike blow to tourism industry.

Ibáñez de Aldecoa Fuster, J. (29 July 2020). Caixa Bank Research. The loss of tourism business is a major blow for the Spanish economy.

Komaroff, A. (1 March 2021). Harvard Medical School. The tragedy of long COVID.

Langfitt, F. (24 November 2020). NPR. Researchers Say 90% Of Recent Coronavirus Sequences In U.K. Came From Spain.

Martin, H. (27 February 2021). Stuff.  Covid-19: Prime minister ‘frustrated’, pleads for Kiwis to ‘follow the rules’.

Müller, S. (24 August 2020). DW.Spain’s tourism industry is in deep trouble.

Reuters staff. (21 January 2020). Reuters. Spain’s 2019 tourist arrivals hit new record high, minister upbeat on trend.

Stewart, C. (March2020). Statista. Number of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in Europe as of March 14, 2021, by country.