BROUGHT to you by Amadeus: Australia, we
will travel again,
but it won’t be
the same. While
no one can say
with certainty
when we will
be able to fly on mass again,
what seems sure is that any
rebound in travel and tourism,
brought to a standstill by the
COVID-19 pandemic, will
start slowly and stay closer to
home. Ultimately, our recovery
as an industry will depend
on our ability to restore the
confidence of travellers to hit
the roads and skies again.
Travellers will need to trust
that boarding a plane is safe
and that they will be able to
enter a destination country
with no issues. For travel
operators, there will be a
balancing act of adopting new
health and safety measures
while ensuring a seamless
journey. At Amadeus, we
believe that the following
trends will be important in
helping the travel industry
meet those demands:
1) Access to information:
The ability to access the right
information at the right time is
critical in times of uncertainty.
As borders reopen, it will be
important to provide real-time
updates on health and safety
protocols and new travel
requirements in destinations
so people feel confident
travelling.
2) Social distancing: Airports
have long been associated with
long queues at check-in and
security and crowded seating
areas as travellers wait for their
flights. Social distancing could
become the norm at airports
and on places, including the
use of AI to manage crowds
and assist with contact tracing.
3) Automated health checks:
Some countries are starting to
run automated health testing
at airports such as temperature
checks or thermal imaging.
This could lead to longer
transit times and bottlenecks
at airports, so travel agencies
will need to inform travellers
on wait times and risk
assessments.
4) Digital identity: Biometrics
are already a widely
accepted solution for identity
verification and their use could
become more widespread as
physical fingerprint and hand
scanners are phased out.
More touchless travel options
could come into play including
contactless fingerprint and
face recognition.
5) VR travel experiences:
Travel restrictions under
COVID-19 present an
opportunity for virtual travel
to truly take off. VR platforms
can enable people to venture
to remote places or immerse
themselves in a particular
location before buying a trip.
6) Robot-powered services:
New hygiene and sanitisation
protocols could see the rise of
autonomous cleaning robots
to sanitise hotel rooms and
airport terminals to protect
travellers. At the Hong Kong
International Airport, selfdriving
robots are being used
to disinfect public spaces and
bathrooms.
Learn how Amadeus can
support you on the road to
recovery here.
Justin Montgomery is General Manager Australia at Amadeus
The post Rethink Travel appeared first on Travel Daily.
Source: traveldaily