COVID-19: The Big Questions
Answered

It is, above all, our duty of care to ensure that we have established policies and protocols to make sure that our travellers, and travel partners, remain safe, at all stages of the journey.

• Before you travel, we’ll make sure that all guides and staff members you meet complete health declarations, and create contingency planning for vetted medical facilities
• All properties and ground partners are screened in line with our COVID-19 safety protocols.
• Travellers are also required to complete health declarations before their journey begins.
• We’re providing face masks and hand sanitisers for each traveller.
• Deep cleaning and sanitisation of accommodation and transport is carried out and frequent temperature checks for staff are in place. During the journey, your travel consultant will provide 24/7 support for any issue (no matter how small) that might come up.

All of this means that your journey experience will be as safe as practically possible – for both travellers and ground partners.

Travel companies, such as ours, benefit from resources and networks of influence that the typical traveller does not have access to.

In fact, we have our own travel risk team and are constantly monitoring the rapid-breaking news cycles, which means that we are pro-actively able to respond to changing situations.

Our affiliations with international travel networks and close contact with ground partners provides us with real time information on all of our destinations – a mudslide in Bhutan, protests in Cape Town, locust swarms in India, you name it.

Through our partnerships with 1,800 of the world’s best experiential travel providers and properties, travellers count on us to help them access inside experiences away from crowds and VIP amenities at curated properties such as free room upgrades, early check-in/late check-out and spa/F&B credit. We also have the leverage to negotiate the best possible booking terms which means that we can provide our clients with the most favourable conditions (for example, change/cancellation terms) before they travel.

Finally, you can be rest assured that all of our curated properties, transportation providers- in fact, anyone you come into contact with from our ground team –  are safety-screened and operating in line with our COVID-19 safety protocols.

Airlines schedules are gradually increasing, although it will be some time before they are as fully operational as they were prior to the pandemic.

Different regulations and protocols are being discussed to ensure safety, including:

• Wearing of face masks on board
• No food or drinks being served during flights
• No magazines available
• Limiting of interactions on board and at the airport
• Consideration for social distancing, including limiting lavatory visits in-flight
• Deep cleaning and sanitisation of aircraft

Here are some resources from the global airline authority, IATA, which will give you a sense of how health and safety mearsures are being reimagined for air travel:

https://www.iata.org/en/programs/safety/

IATA.ORG

If you’re concerned about getting on a plane, we have spectacular ways to travel to your destination that don’t involve air travel. Luxurious and historic train journeys, roadtrips and sea voyages are part of the possibilities. The journey is the destination, after all.

We really understand that one of the key concerns right now is the need for flexibility.

We’re absolutely clear–now more than ever–that travel plans cannot be set in stone. That’s why we’re ensuring that any plans you’ve already made can be changed at no extra cost to you (for hotel bookings, the policies of our partner properties will apply), and if no suitable alternatives can be found, you can cancel your plans at no extra cost to you with full credit being refunded and put towards a future journey.

This is an important area: when the WHO announced the COVID-19 outbreak as a global pandemic on 11 March 2020, it was quickly confirmed by travel insurance agencies worldwide that any new travel insurance policy contracted after that date would not cover any claims resulting from COVID-19.

Regardless, however,  we would highly recommend all travellers to buy travel insurance in order to benefit from protection against any unforeseen circumstances such as flight delays and cancellations, lost belongings, accidents, travel agent insolvency and more.

Blue Sky Escapes works with specialist insurance agents who provide us with insights into the latest conditions in the insurance market.

You can trust our team will help you find the right travel insurance for your next journey.