Know what to expect before travelling this summer

For people who have the travel bug and haven't flown in years, a local travel guide is giving tips to help people get back out there. 

Michael Kroeker, President and Owner of Bonaventure Travel shares some advantages travellers have when booking their next vacation through a travel agency. They have the tools and resources to research areas travellers want to travel to.

"Typically what we do is we set up a consultation with our clients and get a better understanding first of all of what they're looking for. I would need parameters given to us, dates, rough budgets and what they're thinking of doing."

Kroeker says that travel agents take into consideration the comfort levels of the clients they have. Whether they have a lot of experience with travelling or not, how much their budget is and what kind of services they are accustomed to.

"I'm not going to send a client that typically stays in a three-star property to Four Seasons."

Bonaventure strives to make sure its clients have a fun trip but also a safe one.

"We give them that information at the time of booking because by the time they're ready to travel things may have changed. But we certainly tell them what type of COVID tests they may need, what the country's entry requirements are, passport requirements, vaccine information, that kind of thing."

Kroeker also suggests that travellers should book vacations far in advance, especially if they plan on leaving in the summer.

"They need to be booking now. Because we have way less aircraft lift than we did pre-COVID, so there are less seats available for purchase. Demand is high, so it's a supply and demand thing. Rates are going to be high, and they need to expect this going in for the foreseeable future. They also need to realize that travel has completely changed. Everybody is understaffed. Things are not like they were in the past."

Kroeker concludes by encouraging people to purchase travel insurance.

"COVID is a known event, so no insurance company is covering for COVID per se. That said, there are certain exceptions on our policies [within Manulife Insurance], one being if they purchase a policy and they test positive for COVID within 72 hours of their departure, I can't say it will be for certain, but it should be a payable claim. They also cover the quarantine benefit, it's included in most policies, not all."