IN this episode, we speak about coping with fatigue in a region that’s lagging behind in travel recovery, how technology can facilitate the return of safe travel and boost confidence of travellers and how governments and travel companies need to collaborate to get us out of this and through this together.
Here are the key takeaways.
The current mode of travel is not sustainable
She and her family travelled to Amsterdam in the summer and she described it quite an experience. “It wasn’t that scalable, it was quite complex. To get things organised, the amount of paperwork and testing required to be able to go there and making sure that you have the right tests, it gives quite a lot of additional stress to be able to make the travel work.”
It’s not the fear of Covid, it’s the fear of changing rules and restrictions
“I think the quarantine really limits travel, it makes traveling much more complex and less scalable, to be able to do quick trips. I think what we really need to get travel starting again is rebuilding the confidence for travellers.
“Travellers are afraid of traveling, not so much actually because of Covid but more because of the entry restrictions and requirements that change quite often. So it’s about rebuilding confidence. And we believe that by using technology we can really help to accelerate that process, to make sure that the checks are done in a more scalable way. And then it’s really going to be about collaboration between governments, travel providers and all the different organisations that are in the chain of travel to collaborate to get travel started again.”
Asia Pacific is lagging, whatever spots that have reopened, the numbers are really small
The positive sign to developments like the Vaccinated Travel Lane in Singapore (to Germany and Brunei) is “you quickly see when the restrictions are reduced, people go back into plane, they have the confidence. But again, this is where we need to work on making sure that the tickets can be cancelled. People need that flexibility in travel right now to be able to buy travel and to get back out there.”
How to get to quarantine-free two-way travel
The gold standard is quarantine-free two-way travel. “In this whole pandemic, using data and being fact based and using the science is extremely important. And Singapore’s been doing that and hopefully we’re able to open up to more countries.”
“… the problem isn’t really on the inbound. Have you look at any of the statistics at this moment? The people who are traveling, they’re doing PCR test before they depart, PCR tests when they arrive. And especially with the current Delta variants, you would pick up most of the cases already. So it’s really about using data to kind of say, okay, where can we get started? Where can we open up? Because it does seem sometimes a little bit arbitrary right now, while in reality, there’s a lot of information available to make these decisions.”
The challenges of running a global business out of Singapore right now – fix business travel first
As an executive with global and regional responsibility, and being based in Singapore where borders have been closed for 20 months, she admits it’s been hard to manage a business when she can’t travel and meet customers freely.
“I feel very fortunate that I have strong leaders in each of the Asian countries that can continue to have those face to face relationships with customers, which is so important in Asia Pacific, I do feel the limitation myself, having recently take on the airline scope as well, in Asia Pacific, I haven’t been able to meet any of the executives in person, and that is very hard to then start building that relationship.
“It will be great to be able to get out there and to see, with the business travel pass that was launched at the beginning of the crisis, if we could get some of that back and enable some of the business leaders that are based in Singapore to be able to get out there and to meet their customers.”
The fatigue of being locked down for so long is building up in teams across Asia
While virtual has created more of an equal experience across teams “because everybody was in the same situation behind their screen at home”, she says she’s beginning to see how hard it is now when we see other people in other places going to musicals and getting out there. “I see it in the eyes of the teams here in Asia Pacific. Because people in Europe have moved on and in the US as well, and we’re still in the middle of it.”
“Like meeting customers, it’s extremely important to meet each other in teams, building that relationship. And then we can build upon that and work together based on video conferencing, because I think the technology has significantly improved over the last year and a half. So yes, we can also do much more virtually but there will be a need to travel too.”
Technology can help rebuild confidence and facilitate safe travel
To build confidence, we need “information that’s updated and pushed to people in terms of informing them of travel regulation changes. So having that available in the right tool, so people don’t have to go to separate websites.
“Having the right information is important, the health certificate verification. And it’s not just the technology, there are many of these health passes out there, what is important is to have it integrated in the normal flow. Because if you go to an airport right now, honestly, the queues are longer than before, and there’s more manual checking and processing than before.
“And this is the moment where you would like to have least queues, so getting into the normal apps of airlines’ checking processes is extremely important.
“Then there’s the touchless technology. People don’t want to have too much face to face contact at this moment, because that increases risk. They don’t want to have crowds or be stuck in a long queues. So having touchless experiences to be able to bag check, check in …”
Technology can help rebuild confidence and facilitate safe travel
“Personalisation will be a key trend. People are looking for more personalized experiences, and for places that understand them. So it’s a little bit like the travel agent, which I think at the end of the day still provides the personalised experience, but people are looking at in combination of a digital environment, so they have some control themselves.
“That’s why we see the traditional agencies, the ones that are going to get out of this crisis are doing the investments in technology to really be kind of that hybrid setup, where they have the personalised experience, but are fully supported with digital tools, where that is necessary.”
Plus the lessons she learnt personally that have changed her as a leader, mother and traveller.
On her daughter who’s planning the first family holiday as soon as they can get away: “First, we were going to go to the Ice Hotel in Sweden, but that one seems a bit unrealistic right now. So at the moment, she got her eyes set on the Maldives, and specifically the room where you have a slide down into the water, she keeps showing me every day.”