Will travel become obsolete?

[Lark]

The pandemic has seen an acceleration in the use of screen tech for communications, people dont need to needlessly travel for meetings at central locations, there have been improvements in viewing technology, including TVs with pictures so good you may as well be there, only without the inconveniences of travel, scrum and press of crowds of strangers, so my question is will travel become obsolete? Do you think it should?

 

[ceecee]

Travel will never become obsolete.

 

[Stigmata]

As a whole, absolutely not. Will some businesses able to do so transition to remote only permanently? Yes. For some industries it just makes too much sense to not have to worry about not having a physical location and all potential legalities that can arise when you have people sharing space. Others that require having a physical office obviously will have such a space.

As far as recreational travel? It'll never be obsolete. In fact, I imagine they'll be a big tourism boom in certain places once the world is back to normal.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

no, it will just change. Trucks still need to travel about to deliver all those goods, increasingly so now that more people are ordering everything online. People will still want to travel to other countries or regions as well. Less people will travel to work if work from home becomes more common. Hopefully this will alleviate our carbon footprints and take some strain off decaying infrastructure.

 

[Peter Deadpan]

Eventually everything and all of existence will become obsolete.

 

[Lark]

Eventually everything and all of existence will become obsolete.

Classic Deadpan.

 

[Siúil a Rúin]

People really love travel. IDK. I think more telecommuting will result in people having less sense of distance, so that travel between countries for work becomes as common as driving 10 miles to work, although maybe less will be done daily, but further travels weekly or monthly? I think concept of geographical distance will change.

 

[Abcdenfp]

As a whole, absolutely not. Will some businesses able to do so transition to remote only permanently? Yes. For some industries it just makes too much sense to not have to worry about not having a physical location and all potential legalities that can arise when you have people sharing space. Others that require having a physical office obviously will have such a space.

As far as recreational travel? It'll never be obsolete. In fact, I imagine they'll be a big tourism boom in certain places once the world is back to normal.

we are really hoping so as a country that 80% of our economy depends HEAVILY on tourism. I hope people are as excited to travel as we are to have the tourist back. Although there is a lot of concern for us with the new travel quarantine restrictions that are being proposed. Most of our American visitors come for 4-5 days max ( Europeans tend to be a month)

 

[The Cat]

Eventually everything and all of existence will become obsolete.

But you wont live to see it.

 

[Stigmata]

we are really hoping so as a country that 80% of our economy depends HEAVILY on tourism. I hope people are as excited to travel as we are to have the tourist back. Although there is a lot of concern for us with the new travel quarantine restrictions that are being proposed. Most of our American visitors come for 4-5 days max ( Europeans tend to be a month)

I think they will be. Not only has most of the world been locked up for the past year, for a lot of people this is the first real existential threat they've been forced to endure. Certainly the one with the most real consequences to their everyday lives. I imagine people will be inclined more to do certain things and see the world now that we've been shown that putting those goals and desire off for tomorrow isn't necessarily guaranteed.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Perhaps classic going to work will but I doubt that traveling will fundamentally go away as a concept.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

Might see an uptick in travel after this pandemic

 

[ceecee]

Might see an uptick in travel after this pandemic

I agree. But I don't think commuting is the same as traveling. I do think the days of having to be in an office are gone - people simply aren't going back if they don't have to. Partially due to realizing the cost savings, the wear and tear on vehicles, less hassle, not to mention the positive impact it appears to be having on the environment. It's going to be a negative for all the businesses that function off of commuting and office life but once people can get out and move freely - they might see and uptick and frankly - adapt or die applies to businesses regardless of what's going on.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

I agree. But I don't think commuting is the same as traveling. I do think the days of having to be in an office are gone - people simply aren't going back if they don't have to. Partially due to realizing the cost savings, the wear and tear on vehicles, less hassle, not to mention the positive impact it appears to be having on the environment. It's going to be a negative for all the businesses that function off of commuting and office life but once people can get out and move freely - they might see and uptick and frankly - adapt or die applies to businesses regardless of what's going on.

Office life is largely a holdover of the old days. It’s more habit than necessity. I can think of few office positions at my company that can’t be done remotely. Unfortunately the laborers in our warehouse still have to commute.

I’ve saved pounds and pounds of paper since working from home. Not to mention the fact my company is saving a ton on electricity. Unfortunately some want to return to the office, though I suspect they miss the social aspect, the mingling and fucking off to chat around the break area. I’m more efficient now than I was at the office. I was afraid it would be the opposite case