The European community was affected by the forces of Mother Nature in a way that most of the population of the world has never seen within their lifetime.The repercussions of this have been seen all over the globe with people being stranded in countries far from home when the European airspace was closed on the 15th of April 2010, a grounding far more extensive than the grounding of trans-Atlantic flights after September 11 in 2001.

None have seen the results of this more than the global tourism and aviation markets. In the United Arab Emirates, Seawings Seaplane tours of Dubai have seen tourists stranded with little idea of when they will be able to return to their home in Europe. Some tourism companies like Seawings have decided to offer the people stranded in Dubai something to do other than just wait for their flights to be re-opened.

Travel Agencies, Destination Management companies and hotels are desperately seeking alternatives for these guests, as people who had initially planned a short stay have had to extend their booking far beyond what they were expecting. Even with flights starting to open up again, there is a large back log of flights and who know is the volcano will erupt again.

So what can you do to turn this into a positive event? Well, some companies and specifically lifestyle magazines and other such organizations have jumped on the opportunity to develop great articles on “what to do when you are stranded in Dubai/Hong Kong/London/Paris” and many more. Tour companies like Seawings are putting these people on their experiences and showing them that being stranded may not be so bad after all.

It is a crisis like this that makes one think how powerful Mother Nature is and how much there is going on below our feet every day. For some it is a time to sit back, relax and enjoy some well deserved and unexpected time off and for others it’s time to reflect on how lucky we are when our loved ones are always only a flight away.