President Joe Biden’s announcement on Tuesday that the United States expects all adults in that country to receive enough coronavirus vaccines to be vaccinated by the end of May is a huge step in the fight against the pandemic.

If this actually happens, it would be two months earlier than the administration’s previous estimate.

The greatest challenge beyond that will be to administer the vaccines as quickly as possible – a task that tests the best coordination that the federal states and the federal government can muster.

However, success at these two goals does not result in a comprehensive panacea. The worrying effects of the coronavirus will persist for years not only nationally, but in certain regions such as the Southern Alleghenies area with six counties comprising counties of Blair, Cambria, Bedford, Somerset, Huntingdon and Fulton.

A February 22 report in the Wall Street Journal contained information on what problems this tourism-dependent region should be facing, if not surprising considering that last year’s pandemic sparked on economic and health fronts.

Nevertheless, there remains a window of opportunity for this region to develop its tourism assets in a meaningful and effective manner amid the daunting challenges that will remain in the months and years to come.

Key will be the region’s ability to capitalize on the opportunities that arise, using their best PR instincts to get the message across about the exciting tourism opportunities on offer here.

Even so, the information in the February 22 journal report is not a good sign for tourism here in this second year of coronavirus presence, if everything goes as the article promises.

According to the Journal, the United Nations World Tourism Organization has concluded that the prospects for a recovery in 2021 have worsened after experts surveyed experts on the issue last October and January.

In October, 79 percent of the experts surveyed believed a recovery was possible in 2021, and only 50 percent expressed that belief in January. 41 percent believed that travel would not reach pre-pandemic levels until 2024 or beyond.

In terms of accommodation, hotel data firm STR and Tourism Economics jointly predict that demand for hotels will not return to 2019 levels until 2023 and room rates will not fully recover until 2025.

Travel research firm Phocuswright was quoted in the Journal report as saying that gross US travel bookings, including hotels, airline tickets, and rental cars, are expected to still be below 2019 levels in 2024.

The United Nations World Tourism Organization named 2020 the worst year for tourism in history, with a billion fewer international arrivals. However, it is also unclear when people will be comfortable traveling in the future.

Perhaps the nature of the tourism websites available here will help the southern alleghenies avoid some of the havoc on the tourism industry that others will encounter with theirs.

It’s too early to predict.

Suffice it to say that the southern alleghenies cannot sit back and only watch the tourism season approaching, as there is insufficient planning to react quickly and correctly to positive developments.

In addition, the lessons of the pandemic should be seen as building blocks for a better and more organized tourism effort across the six counties after COVID-19 becomes a defeated enemy.

Latest news and more in your inbox

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR