Leisure and Travel during Pandemic of COVID-19

It is very common to see posts in the social media these days during pandemic and Work From Home period, telling the mind of the subjects of their longing to go out. Longing to hanging out with best friends in favorite cafes or restaurants, strolling around somewhere, even as simple as seeing the sun sets on the beach would be fulfilling enough. Longing of interaction with someone else, directly. Not just via laptop’s or smartphone’s screen. This limitation of physical activities is caused by, none other than, the transmission of COVID-19. Many researchers and World Health Organization have explained the danger of this SARS-CoV-2 virus which attacked the respiratory system and caused inflammation. Early symptoms of COVID-19 include sore throat, dry cough, and fever; basically just like the normal flu. It makes total sense why it is very hard to detect among the general public.

Nicola and her team, in their recent article published in International Journal of Surgery explained the socio-economic impact caused by this pandemic. She depicted that the multisector loss is too huge and divided her explanation into three sectors. The first one is primary sectors which concerned on the extraction on raw materials, the next sectors is secondary which concerned on the production of finished product, and the last one tertiary sectors concerned on service provision industries. The longing of going out and hanging out could be classified in the tertiary sectors. Would you like to guess the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on this sector? Very severe. By closing all in and out access in the airports for domestic and international flights, for commercial purposes, practically it can be said that traveling activities are suspended. People were asked to do all of their activities from and at home only.

How can people bear of not going anywhere at all? How people cope with that? What do they do in their leisure time? A small research done by Graciela and her team reported of how certain groups of people, who were asked to fill some questionnaires, spent their leisure time during WFH period. The groups were divided into three, based on their generation: generation X (1961-1980), generation Y (1981-1994), and generation Z (1995-2010). They found that generation X tended to spend their free time by doing activities that were useful for maintaining physical and mental health such as doing sports and reading. This generation doesn’t really use any technologies. Meanwhile generation Y mostly spent their free time by listening to music and playing games. The last one, generation Z, behaved quite similarly to generation Y where they spent most of their free time listening to music and playing games. There is another research which elaborated more to how generation Z spent their free time, conducted by Widnyana et al. They found that this generation spent most of their free time by watching YouTube videos. Several questions regarding the longing of traveling were also asked, for example what videos of destination they watched, what destination they imagined and which one they would like to visit, and lastly which destination they would visit first after the pandemic is over. The answers revolved around places they have previously visited and most of their answers related to memorable special places with their close friends.

As if trying to help and answer directly to those wishes, there are some virtual traveling programs in a YouTube channel named REFO Indonesia. The program was the result of collaboration between Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture, Google for Education, REFO Indonesia, and GEG Indonesia. Until this article is published, there are currently six live videos related to virtual traveling program could be found in the channel. Live premiering videos meant that the video was aired lively and the audience could interact real-time with the speakers through the chat box. After the broadcast finished, the video could be watched again freely anytime. There is also another local travel website named TelusuRI who did similar programs. They have held several virtual traveling via webinars (Zoom or Google Meet) during the pandemic. The speakers usually are professional guides and they use Google Earth application to show and indicate the places to the audience. TelusuRI with their virtual traveling programs have visited several popular destinations in Indonesia, and several cities and countries abroad as well. They don’t limit their programs exclusively to discuss about Indonesia. The audience could interact with the guide by asking questions directly through video or writing their interests in the chat box. Virtual traveling held by REFO Indonesia is free, meanwhile by TelusuRI the audience have to donate and the donation would be given to the destination they visited online or it would be given to the people in needs. There are limited seats in joining virtual travel held by TelusuRI, while the live videos by REFO Indonesia are easy to found and always open-access.

Nowadays, a slogan of new normal is commonly seen almost everywhere. A new habit of life would be started. Places soon would be back open. Yet, we could not predict for how long the trend of virtual traveling would last. Would it last longer? Judging from the situation of limited air travel, possibilities of continuous pandemic, probably it would be safe to say that this trend would stand for a while.

Of course, the excitement and contentment perceived when people do travel in real world, physically present in the destination, could not be replaced. But still, in the middle of this uncertainty, virtual traveling is a very safe way for us to go out and have some fun.

Sources:

Graciela, M. et al. 2020. Pemanfaatan Waktu Luang Generasi X, Y, dan Z Saat Penerapan Kebijakan Stay At Home Di Jimbaran Bali. Laporan Penelitian Lapangan 2, Program Studi Destinasi Pariwisata, Universitas Udayana.

Nicola, Maria et al. 2020. The Socio-Economic Implications of the Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19): A Review. International Journal of Surgery, volume 78. Juni 2020. 29 Juni 2020. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1743919120303162

Widnyana, I. M. D. M. et al. 2020. Siasat Pemenuhan Leisure And Recreation Generasi Z (Physical Distancing Pandemi COVID-19). Laporan Penelitian Lapangan 2, Program Studi Destinasi Pariwisata, Universitas Udayana.

https://www.instagram.com/refoindonesia/

https://www.instagram.com/ayotelusuri/

https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus#tab=tab_1