TRAVEL
Career on standby
People working in the travel industry have had to adapt to new situations due to the pandemic shutdown, forcing some to begin new careers
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s a result of Covid-19, countries around the world have put in place heavy travel restrictions to help stop the spread of the virus. However, these restrictions aren’t just affecting tourists. They’re also affecting people who work in the tourism-promoting industry. While some people see travelling as a luxury and non-essential, the people who devote their lives to that industry have been left jobless or hopeless - causing depression and anxiety. Keith Dobson,
a clinical psychology professor at the University of Calgary said the rates of both disorders have skyrocketed in the last year. “The psychological issue is mostly one of loss, either the loss of earnings, in some cases lost social contact, like friends that you can’t go and see and family you can’t go and see.” Those feelings can be more acute for individuals for whom international travel is everyday part of their work. “We see people who have lost opportunities, lost experiences and the
MADASYN KOST mkost@cjournal.ca
loss of hope. In the short term, the ability to travel and the normal psychological response to losses is becoming sad and depressed,” said Dobson. This past year has also forced many of those individuals to find new jobs and branch out. The Calgary Journal sat down with several promoters to discuss what these closures have meant, not only for their careers but for their mental health and what they’ve been doing to adapt to such major changes.
Colin Dougan overlooking the Alberta landscape. PHOTO BY KEITH TANNER
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MARCH/APRIL 2021 CALGARYJOURNAL.CA
