By AMY RICKER
Great Bend Post
Despite there still being a lot of uncertainty in the world, there are those lockdown-weary people who are hoping to salvage some travel plans for 2021.
First National Travel Agency Owner Christi Penka says in some markets, due to availability, there are some deals to be found, with Las Vegas leading the list.
“Availability is not the issue it once was. Now when I say that, I mean that it used to be that if you were going to book a trip to Las Vegas and even if you weren’t going to go during the peak time, if it wasn’t 2-3 months out, availability could have been an issue. By availability, I mean, flight and hotel availability,” explained Penka.
The Great Bend travel agency owner explains that since travel has slowed down to a crawl, she is currently booking Vegas trips for Spring Break and availability is not an issue. The shows and concerts are not typically in operation, with a few exceptions, but the casinos are open.
Penka says that compared to last year, January has picked up with inquiries about summer and fall travel.
“I don’t want to say it’s back to normal by any means, but it is moving closer to some degree of normal because this is the norm for January. Once the holidays were over, people would start planning summer vacations, graduation trips, honeymoons, and that kind of thing. Although it isn’t as much as a year ago, I’m getting busier with a lot more inquiries.”
Penka says that it has been refreshing to see people who have already traveled this month, are currently on their vacation, and others that are getting ready to leave.
When it comes to cruises, she says that the cruise lines never really stopped taking reservations, but then they canceled, forcing people to either get a refund or to reschedule for a later date. People are currently making reservations for later this year, as cruise lines have suspended travel through the end of March.
She says she doesn’t have anyone traveling internationally, but Penka explained that those restrictions are changing daily, and she expects that trend to continue as vaccinations are rolled out. She says if the travel bug is starting to hit, to contact your travel agent and make an inquiry regarding destinations, dates and prices.