The majority of travellers are now ready to consider booking domestic and international trips, but only if airlines, airports, hotels and car rental companies collectively implement 10 different safety measures throughout their journey, including fully flexible or refundable flight tickets.
This is according to the results of new independent research released by Travelport.
The majority of participants said they would travel both domestically and internationally again.
The results of the study are based on a survey of 5,000 travellers across the United States, United Kingdom, India, Australia and New Zealand, as well as in-depth interviews with 29 leading travel suppliers. The study found that at all parts of the travel journey it is deemed critical to have social distancing rules, mandatory use of face masks, and ready access to sanitising gel or wipes and gloves.
The study also revealed that additional measures still need to be implemented by airlines, airports, hotels and car rental companies to fully restore consumer confidence.
The table below captures the 10 separate safety measures participants of the study said they need to know have been adopted by airports, airlines, hotels and car rental companies for them to consider domestic and international travel. The percentage figures represent the number of travellers that said they will not travel unless the respective measure is in place.
Greg Webb, Chief Executive Officer at Travelport said, ‘Over the last few months, the travel industry has rolled out many initiatives to support a safe, healthy and responsible return for travel. This study highlights the criticality these measures are now playing in restoring traveler confidence. However, for the majority of travellers to return to the skies, the industry now needs to work together to not only ensure a wide array of safety measures are in place throughout the travel journey, but to collectively communicate these changes to travellers using a range of channels and merchandising technologies.’
On a country level, the study revealed demand for almost every safety measure is highest in India. Demand in New Zealand, while still high, tended to be the lowest across the five countries assessed. When it comes to age groups, demand for robust safety measures was again high across all categories, however, it was highest among baby boomers and lowest among millennials.
The full results of both the quantitative and qualitative components of the research are captured in Travelport’s Guide to Travel Recovery report. These also reveal that travellers are more likely to book through a travel agent than before the COVID-19 crisis, with one third (33%) of all travellers anticipating an increase in their use of travel agent services. This trend was particularly evident among millennials (44%). Overall, the two thirds (65%) who claimed this, said it’s because they feel travel agents are best placed to provide them with the latest travel safety information.
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