AFTER DARK
Story by Noah Wright | Photos by Lexi Wicks | Design by Sara Roach You have just arrived at SeaTac International Airport. Your bags are packed and the hotel is booked — the feeling of eagerness arises as you get ready to board the flight for your dream vacation just like they do in the movies. But the movie scenes are dreams compared to what traveling is like now amid the pandemic. Currently, airports are experiencing multiple closed shops, flights are now requiring seat vacancies, airlines are providing decreased flight options and hotels are accommodating less and less occupants every day.
But the nightmare that is traveling especially haunts the people and businesses that make up the travel industry. For these people, the vacant seats, lesser accommodations, closed shops and decreased flight options are more than just minor inconveniences. Current Problems According to Louis Smilanich, general manager of Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, “In March and April there was a 95 percent drop in bookings.” With business travels being a key to airline profits, this extreme drop in bookings has put the industry under tremendous stress. While there are still small amounts of leisure travel, the number of people taking weekend vacations is not enough for the industry to get by. “The cost structure is not at the same pace if we are only flying weekend travelers,” explains Smilanich. With the comfortability businesses have gotten with the virtual work setting, limited business travel may continue to be a problem. The ease of having meetings over the computer or phone has shown to businesses that they may no longer need to send employees on trips to conventions or seminars. “Hotels are hurting”, says Justin Taillon, professor and department head of the Hospitality and Tourism Program at Highline College. “Every hotel is making less than 50 percent than last year [and] 8 percent of the hotels have closed fully.” Taillon explains, the hotels near SeaTac are doing relatively well because of passengers that require quarantine upon arrival, mostly due to ease