Nearly three out of every four travellers from the region are eager to travel and hope to do so in the coming year, a new survey has revealed … although most want to stay close to home.
A significant portion of these regional travellers – nearly 51 per cent of business passengers and 47pc of leisure vacationers – are eager to travel within the Middle East, the global survey conducted by Spain-based travel research firm Amadeus have revealed.
“Outside of the Middle East, Asia and Europe are the next-most popular destinations, and more than a quarter of the respondents expect to take two trips in the coming year,” the report added.
Guidelines
The report surveyed 1,000 respondents regionally, of whom 31pc agreed that current international restrictions and guidelines on travel are confusing and unclear, making them less likely to book a trip away.
However, 95pc of travellers would be willing to provide personal information and health data for the effective use of digital health passports.
Approximately 77pc are most comfortable providing digital health data for international travellers while 43pc are willing to provide it for domestic travel.
“Sentiment towards digital health data varies globally, but digital health verification will be increasingly important to help increase traveller confidence and enable smoother travel experiences,” researchers noted.
Passports
“This technology involves multiple stakeholders who need to work together. Digital health passports or certificates – whether to demonstrate health checks or vaccination status – need to be fully integrated into airline, airport and hospitality systems to avoid creating customer pain points, or friction, along the journey. In addition, travellers need to know that their personal information is safe and secure, and that they are in control of how it is used.”
A fear of catching Covid-19 while travelling is the top concern for 45pc of travellers, while 42pc are anxious about any self-isolation period before and after travel. 39pc are worried about changing Covid-19 restrictions resulting in last-minute cancellations, while only 3pc have no concerns about travelling during the pandemic.
“The travel industry is at a critical stage as demand for travel is growing as we see some restrictions ease, but traveller concerns still exist and must be addressed with innovative solutions to help increase confidence as quickly as possible and for the long-term,” a spokesperson from the research firm added.
“When it comes to the concerns around travelling in light of Covid-19 we have seen an increase in anxiety around last minute cancellations, refunds and a growing demand for apps or solutions where digital health data and travel information can be stored in one place.
“The survey shows a willingness to use technology to help combat these concerns, which sends a positive message to our industry: by working together we can rebuild travel better.”
More than 40pc of respondents noted that self-service check-ins, mobile applications with trip notifications and mobile boarding would increase their confidence to travel in the coming year.
Leisure travellers are also more likely to prefer automated and flexible cancellation policies.
Furthermore, almost half of the respondents (49pc) believe greater availability to green modes of transport, such as electric planes, would help the travel industry become more sustainable in the long term.
naman@gulfweekly.com
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