Overall tourism was down in 2020, but many people wanted to explore rural areas close to home - Entrepreneur Generations

Though overall tourism fell in 2020, many travel companies and rural communities with tourism economies say they saw an increase in domestic tourism—especially with locals wanting to get out of the house and explore their region.

"Leigh Barnes, chief customer officer for operator Intrepid Travel, said that during the height of the pandemic they saw people wanting to stay close to home and get to know their own country and the cultures within it better," Kristi Eaton reports for The Daily Yonder. "Although overall numbers were down, Barnes said Intrepid Travel has seen increased interest in outdoor activities" such as cycling trips, canoeing, and hiking. State and national parks were often overwhelmed with tourists over the past two years.

"That’s fundamentally been a shift, I think, over Covid," Barnes told Eaton. "Everyone was wanting to travel and experience other peoples’ cultures – there has been that shift. What that means for rural travel is that people are going back to different parts of their own country. I think we’re seeing an increase of people traveling to connect to understand themselves, understand their own culture."

Many tourists in rural areas showed an interest in food, including the history of food systems and learning about where their own food comes from, Barnes told Eaton.

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/f7HPQuI Overall tourism was down in 2020, but many people wanted to explore rural areas close to home - Entrepreneur Generations

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