Americans Are Ready to Travel. But Where Can They Go? – WSJ

Americans are looking to get out of town after a year of virus-related travel restrictions. Figuring out where they can go and what will be open when they get there remain tricky—for both would-be tourists and travel companies.
Signs that consumers are ready to travel again are growing, with rising searches for airfares and activity on booking sites. Travel companies are providing tools to help make sense of restrictions and spur bookings, but a hazy outlook for international trips suggests domestic destinations will see the strongest demand.
Diana Zucknick and her husband, Paul, visited 14 countries in the five years before Covid-19 caused them to hunker down at their Austin, Texas, home. Now that both are vaccinated, they are anxious to resume traveling.
As they sat down to plan travel, Ms. Zucknick said, they pondered questions they hadn’t considered before: Which countries will allow Americans in? Would they face a lengthy quarantine or be putting others at risk? How safe are layovers?
Hong Kong had been high on their list, she said, but the logistics of that trip amid current travel restrictions, including a 21-day quarantine requirement, seemed daunting. “There are so many variables,” she said. “Everything is up in the air.” Ms. Zucknick, 38 years old, has yet to make a booking. So far they have traveled only in Texas.