The past six months have been a tough time for student travel—and all travel, really. With study abroad programs and summer trips abroad cancelled due to Covid outbreaks around the world and ongoing travel restrictions preventing travel between the US and many other popular destinations, travel has pretty much been at a standstill. It’s been tough on travellers, airlines, hotels, online travel agencies, tour organizers, and all kinds of travel industry members. Since COVID-19 continues to put a damper on much of what we’re used to with travel, and with the recent news that STA Travel has ceased trading, what does the future of student travel look like now?
The Future of Student Travel
While the future feels a lot more uncertain than it did six months ago, one thing is certain: eventually, travel will return. When it does, we’ll all be better for it.
Students and young travellers are among the most resilient and active groups of travellers out there. In our 20+ years of supporting student travel and young travellers around the world, we’ve collectively endured 9/11, the global financial crisis and countless incidents of global unrest. Every single time, our students have returned to travelling and experiencing everything the world has to offer. We believe that this time will be no exception.
Of a recent survey we conducted of student travelers, more than 80% of students said they were hoping or planning to take a trip in the next year. Although students are being cautious—about 50% of students surveyed said they would not travel until more restrictions are lifted— students remain optimistic and ready to return to traveling as soon as it’s smart to do so.
Lots of you have messaged us to ask about our cheap prices: once travel returns, will flight prices jump up? The short answer is no! Some fares may be expensive right now because there are less options available on certain routes. However, as the world reopens with more flights, the prices you’re used to will return. Our product team has been working tirelessly to get the best deals and pricing for you! With that, our airline partners also believe in student travel. We’ve been working even more closely with them over the past few months to secure some of the best pricing we’ve ever had for students during the coronavirus and beyond.
Why We’re Still Hopeful
Between the resiliency and adaptability of student travellers and our standout partners who have continued to provide us with exclusive discounts and student travel deals for you, we know that students will be a good position to travel and start exploring the world again as soon as it’s safe to do so.
If we’ve learned anything during the lockdown, it’s how important travel is! Not only is travel a valuable part of education and personal growth, it’s also a way for us to connect with people and the world. Travel gives us new perspectives and shows us what life is like on the other side of the globe. It breaks us out of our comfort zones and makes us more confident, compassionate, empathetic and kind. These are things we need now, more than ever! In the past few months, we’ve stayed home to protect and care for one another. But in the months and years to come, when travel returns, we know that you’ll be ready to go back to exploring and learning around the world.
Can travel change the world? We think so—its certainly changed our worlds! We’re hopeful because we know that this time has only shown us the power and necessity of human connection and compassion. Not to mention how much we can accomplish when we work together! We know that travel, in the future, will continue to be a way that we grow, expand our horizons and connect with people around the world.
What Makes StudentUniverse Unique
StudentUniverse has always had unique offerings for students. Our online-only platform means that you can book travel from anywhere in the world, to anywhere else in the world. Need a last-minute flight? We’ve got you. Decided to take a weekend trip while studying abroad? Book it tonight, fly out on Friday. Planning ahead for next summer? We’ll have plenty of deals for you to watch the fares and find the cheapest price.
And that’s not to mention our exclusive travel deals for students! We work directly with 90+ airline partners to secure special student-only airfare for our verified members. Our automatic online verification system allows us to verify you at no cost to you! There’s no need to purchase a card, a membership or anything else. Just sign up (for free), get verified (usually instantly), and you’re on your way to great deals. Once you’re verified as a real student, we can offer cheaper, student-only prices to you!
And, of course, we have plenty of promo codes and discounts for other members as well. Rest assured that all of those exclusive deals are not going away because of Covid! Our teams have doubled down on our commitment to make sure that travel is still affordable for students, especially post-Covid.
Our Mission for Student Travel
We’re saddened to hear that STA Travel is no longer trading and will be closing down as a result of Covid-related challenges. STA Travel has been a major provider and supporter of student travel for decades (since the 70s!). They’ve also always been a partner with us in the mission of bringing affordable student travel to students globally. The loss of their expert team and long-standing advocacy for student travellers is a huge loss.
We always pushed each other to be better: but now, we’re committed to carrying forward this mission into the future, wherever the next decades bring us. We’re not going anywhere! With our dedicated team of partners and active travellers and students, we’re already beginning to see travel rebound. We also recently launched StudentUniverse Australia and are planning on expanding into Canada this year as well. Although things have been hard, we’re starting to see recovery and are still making progress toward growth.
We’re dedicated to students and to continuing to bring you cheap flights and discount student travel deals so that you can experience the world and the transformation travel can bring. We believe in the power of travel for education, personal growth, transformation, and connecting our world and making it a better place. And we’re excited that we can help make that possible for more students in the future. If you’re a student with future travel on your mind, use our limited-time promo code FUCOVID for £10 off any flight on our website.
Ready to start planning your future travels? We’ve got cheap flights for you, or just all the inspiration you need.
