Travel to bounce back by 2024, says survey

by Richmond Mercurio (The Philippine Star), 15 Jul 2021

MANILA, Philippines — A majority of aviation executives in Asia-Pacific see travel resuming to pre-pandemic levels after 2023.

A survey conducted by Collinson and aviation think tank CAPA–Center for Aviation showed that 31 percent of respondents in Asia-Pacific expect travel to return to pre-pandemic levels by 2023 while 25 percent see the the industry bouncing back by 2024 and 17 percent by late 2022.

The respondents were composed of a mix of C-Suite, executives and senior managers from airlines, airports and aviation suppliers, including those from the Philippines.

While 89 percent of the respondents believe that it is safe to travel, they are pessimistic about the industry’s recovery due to the policies being put in place, wider perceptions of safety, or both.

Over half, or 56 percent, is “very concerned” at reports of fraudulent COVID-19 test results and vaccination passports.

The survey likewise showed that a high number of respondents believed that leisure travel would recover significantly faster than business travel, and that shorter-haul flights would make a faster comeback.

Meanwhile, 51 percent of respondents expect robust testing protocols to remain key to reopening global borders until the end of 2022, while 32 percent of respondents see such protocols remaining key for the next three years.

Only 13 percent expects testing to be phased out this year in line with the vaccine rollout.

In terms of quarantine measures, almost half or 49 percent believe these will be phased out by 2022,

Some 30 percent, on the other hand, still believe quarantine measures will remain in place beyond 2021.

The survey also showed that 75 percent of the respondents viewed vaccine passports as a very important tool while 18 percent thought otherwise as some governments allow access regardless of digital health documents.

“The global travel recovery won’t be immediate, but we do have the unique opportunity to make things better than ever before by working together to evolve current practices,” Collinson Asia-Pacific president Todd Handcock said.

“This joint research with CAPA has helped shine a light on the areas that require immediate, combined focus and effort from government bodies and private organisations – particularly those in the travel ecosystem – in order to remove remaining barriers and help achieve the safe, long-term return of global travel,” Handcock said.