Can price rebuild traveller confidence?
During the CAPA Masterclass on restoring traveller confidence, Alexandre de Juniac, Director General & CEO, IATA and Gloria Guevara, WTTC President & CEO, said that a pressing issue is to first ensure passengers feel safe to travel.
According to both industry leaders, it is the entire travel journey from door to door which requires wider collaboration and coordination. More than ever, all stakeholders now need to take collaboration and coordination
seriously. Echoing the dire need for such an alliance, Gloria
Guevara stated that pricing will not be the main factor for everyone, to improve demand. The most crucial factor, she said, would be rebuilding passenger confidence as quickly as possible through a coordinated industry and government approach to safety standards and removal of inconsistencies. But, according to IATA chief Alexandre de
Juniac, airlines in particular are initially using price to stimulate demand with low fares. “IATA’s research shows fares for travel on domestic markets in May 2020 were down almost a quarter year-on-year, falling 23 per cent. International airfares for the limited international services active in May 2020 were also down, but at single-digit levels. Price is an emerging pattern in the recovery process,” he said.
A point on which both leaders agreed was that there is currently very limited co-ordination between countries. Quarantine requirements could add 14-day lockdowns at each end of any journey, and even where travellers are freely permitted to access a country within a so-called bubble, their previous travel could ultimately force them to comply with entry restrictions.
Emphasising on the vital role for government multilateralism, the WTTC chief said that making the right decisions on recovery will ultimately define its path. “We need to learn
from what happened after 9/11. The reason it took so many years to recover was because governments did not work in a coordinated approach. We implemented some safety standards that for every country in the world were different, which led to uncertainty, fear and impacted recovery,” she noted.
“This is the time for governments to borrow and invest in infrastructure projects relevant to tourism so that we can get the economy moving again. Right now is not the time for them to save their money and do nothing,” urged Guevara.
De Juniac acknowledged that many companies will be looking to reduce travel budgets in light of COVID-19, while others will turn towards technology for meetings and business dealings instead of travel. “Having faced lockdowns and travel restrictions, this is generating a situation where fear transcends desire,” he commented.
Having faced lockdowns and travel restrictions, this is generating a situation where fear transcends desire - Alexandre de Juniac This is the time for governments to borrow and invest in infrastructure projects relevant to tourism - Gloria Guevara