Global Tours Centered Around Marathons Get Lift From Pandemic-Inspired Healthy Travel

Many — if not most large-scale — marathons were cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic. Indeed, after organizers of the Tokyo Marathon cancelled the 2020 edition of their event for the general public, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York were among the many cities to follow suit. Those widespread cancellations were another Covid-related financial blow as large numbers of visiting runners and spectators inject millions annually into the economies of many popular race destinations. But marathons in several large cities are roaring back this fall, and tour operators specializing in marathon-focused trips have been preparing to take runners all over the world — but having to do so in an environment where they navigate a maze of concerns brought about by Covid variants. Those companies actually might be in a great position to profit from a pandemic-era running boom. According to a survey of 3,961 current runners, a little less than 29 percent said they started the activit