Travel Industry Leaders Hope To See Full Return To Normalcy In 2022

A Tulsa travel agency says the new year is finally looking like it will be a return to normalcy after the last two years have brought disruption and uncertainty. 

Greg Spears, CEO of Spears Travel, says March 2020 and the rest of the year were devastating for travel. Spears says 90% of trips were being canceled at the start of the pandemic. 

Spears says things started looking better earlier this year with the rollout of the vaccine but there have been new travel hesitations with the emergence of different variants. The cruise industry is a big part of his business and is in the middle of making its own comeback. 

Spears is hopeful 2022 will be a bounce-back year for the travel industry. 

"There is a lot of pent-up demand," said Spears. "People want to go travel and they're just waiting for the right time to do it." 

Spears says new COVID-19 sanitation protocols will likely be the new standard when it comes to cleaning and protecting guests.