Catchphrases in COVID times
Bubbles, corridors, pivots and pop-ups — the pandemic has changed the way we speak about travel.
Words and phrases of the pandemic? Some seem to inhabit every sentence and drill into our brains. Once upon a time, we’d say they’d gone viral. Pivot is the worst, with its suggestion of rotating wildly and, in some cases, collapsing. I much prefer pirouette, which suggests elegance and fine timing. The new normal? Yes, an acceptable description, although the meaning of normal has been diminished. Something like “the new reality” works better, and let’s add the rider of “for now”. The reset button? Over it.
In the world of travel, usually a breeding ground for ridiculous catchphrases, things have been relatively quiet, although I loathe the word bubble. Maybe that’s because a bubble is an ephemeral thing. Whoosh, it floats away, just like all the chatter about which destinations will fall within so-called tourism bubbles. There’s been a quiet shift to referring to these catchments as “corridors” but let’s hope we can set foot in these mythical (for now) realms without taking a wrong turn or hitting a locked door.
Pop-up is not a new term but one that’s had a workout in 2020, with many great results. I’ve just read about a conference centre in regional Britain with attached accommodation for delegates that’s turned itself into a temporary hotel, dressing spaces as guestrooms and inviting locals in for a night, complete with slap-up dinner. In Australia, we’ve been popping up for quite some time, as witnessed by caravans repurposed as mobile cafes or gelato bars. Empty shops in many cities and towns have been blossoming as temporary retailers of crafts, fabrics supplied by wholesalers, homewares and, this time of year, Christmas gifts. Almost all pop-up stores offer online shopping, too, for card-carrying members of the click-and-buy cult.
In the NSW coastal village where I live, we have a pop-up dumpling joint and, about 10 minutes away by car, the chef-owner of a pasta restaurant has junked the concept of table service in favour of a providore store. Its hottest item? Pasta sauce made on site, of course. Our local country-house hotel has opened a patisserie and small deli in a lounge space once reserved for guests. It’s not only the best option hereabouts to buy bread and pastries but has become a gathering place for parish gossip, catch-ups and sharing of whale and dolphin sightings at the nearby beach.
While 2020 has been pretty much a dud year, it hasn’t been a totally idle one for tourism and hospitality. Regional hotels report record numbers as road-trippers hit the highways, and let’s hope Victoria soon reports similar success. Without wanting to put a Pollyanna spin on it, maybe it’s been a chance to reflect, to adapt, to change. And those bubbles? Hopefully not just fizzing in our charged glasses in 2021 as we scan those far horizons.
