Do you remember your first flight?

Do you remember your first flight? The first time you fell in love with a new city? We do. We remember the first time we jumped in a cold lake on a hot summer day with our siblings. The first time we ate street food walking the streets of a new country with college roommates. We even remember the first business trip we took—straight out of college, and too nervous to enjoy the ride. This desire to build memories, to connect with people, and to see new places drove 1.4 billion of us to travel internationally in 2019. Creating safer travel experiences is now paramount to protect this privilege.

Now is clearly a moment of crisis for the travel industry. Available seat miles on US airlines were down 71 percent in April 2020 from the previous year. Globally, hotels are at 29 percent occupancy, compared with 72 percent over the same period in 2019. However, we are seeing green shoots of demand in areas that are opening up, highlighting an enduring desire to travel; our April survey of Chinese leisure travelers shows that many people are already planning their next trip.



But the future of the travel industry will depend on more than just travelers’ pent-up demand. For some, the romance that travel used to inspire was already wearing thin even before the crisis. We spoke to people across multiple geographies who have traveled in the last two months, and the one constant across their experiences was added stress—whether due to limited entry points, multiple new checkpoints, or fellow travelers’ inconsistent compliance with published safety measures.

Safety must be the first priority. Wherever possible, however, intensified health and hygiene protocols should be implemented in ways that avoid making journeys more difficult in the aftermath of the pandemic—for example, the way that travel became logistically more complex after 9/11 because of additional security measures. The imperative to move fast has often meant unilateral decision making, rather than solutions developed through quick, iterative feedback. Any further advance of cold or sterile experiences as a result of the (appropriate) pursuit of safety could radically shift behaviors toward simpler experiences, such as choosing to drive instead fly, or could even dampen the overall recovery. Travel companies need to excite and attract customers as well as reassure them. To achieve this, leaders should focus on making travel better—not just safer—which means giving travelers more control, offering greater authenticity and personalization, and taking a customer-centric, agile approach.

Make It A Champion Day!

Brandon Hardison

Shopsmart Autos / Champion Strategies

For further Information contact Brandon@shopsmartautos.com

or 404-394-8285

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