Travel agent sees uptick in vacation plans as states ease restrictions
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- If this was a normal summer, Michele McCloskey and her five children would be planning their summer vacation.
"We would have had our week scoped out already and the kids would have been looking forward to something," said McCloskey.
Instead, the coronavirus has kept them home. However, she said her family has taken many day trips to various New Jersey beaches.
With states easing restrictions across the country, there has been an uptick in vacation bookings, according to a Villanova-based travel agent.
"We've had an enormous amount of calls coming in," said Joshua Bush, of Avenue Two Travel. "It's not necessarily pre-COVID levels but they're stir crazy, they've been cooped up for too long and they are looking to plan that next vacation."
Bush said his agency has seen an increase in fall air travel to western national parks, staycations to Center City Philadelphia and road trips to states like Florida.
"The enjoyment of being with their family and being outside is far outweighed by the inconvenience of having to take these precautions and wearing a mask and doing what you need to do," said Bush.
With Universal Orlando and Six Flags Frontier City reopening on June 5, Kate Cronan, a pediatric ER physician for Nemours/Alfred I. DuPont Hospital for Children said the safest vacation is a staycation.
"I know people want to fly and want to travel, but they really have to take those precautions up, washing their hands, trying not to use the bathroom very often and if they do, all the hand washing, etc. has to happen."
McCloskey said she's not ready to do overnight trips just yet.
"Will wherever we go take the precautions that are necessary or will we get there and realize that we feel unsafe and want to come home right away?" said McCloskey.
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