The first priority is survival. “This is the opportunity to fix the problems in our business,” said Stephan Ekbergh, CEO, Travelstart, during WiT Virtual’s Middle East Forum held last week. “Then if you manage to survive, you have to innovate. We innovate best under pressure.”
Saying “there will be fewer players left after this”, Ekbergh noted it would allow the strong ones to shine through. “Remember, the best investments were made after we came out of 2008.”
Stuart Crighton, CEO and founder of Cleartrip, said, “Six months’ product road maps are being achieved in three weeks. It’s a good time to analyse what is fundamentally useful to your business. We need to become more accountable to the customer. I see a more prolific e-care model going forward.”
However, industry collaboration is needed for best practices to be rolled out across the value chain. The massive spike in customer requests, “when we went from 2,000 calls to 15,000 calls”, showed “how exposed we all are, how disconnected”, said Crighton.
“In such a collaborative event, we needed a single message to remove the ambiguity but there was no institution to bring the industry together.”
Ross Veitch, CEO and co-founder of Wego, said a key question to ask is, what will it take for people to be able to travel again? Will some form of medical passport be required, similar to vaccination certificates that were needed in the past for travel to certain countries with yellow fever, for example?
“What will it take for people to be able to travel again?”
As those key questions were being raised at the forum, you can see signs of what the future of travel could look like with what’s been happening the past week, as the industry emerges from the initial shock-and-awe to the current what-are-we-going-to-do-about-it phase.
In Beijing, all arrivals are being asked to provide a negative nucleic acid report and green health code before checking in to hotels. Following on from the introduction of rapid Covid-19 tests for passengers, Emirates and Dubai International Airport have added more measures. Cabin crew, boarding agents and ground staff in direct contact with passengers will now wear personal protective equipment (PPE) which includes a protective disposable gown over their uniforms, and a safety visor, in addition to masks and gloves.
At Dubai airport, gloves and masks are mandatory for all customers and employees. Thermal scanners monitor the temperatures of all passengers and employees stepping into the airport. Physical distancing indicators have been placed on the ground and at waiting areas to help travellers maintain the necessary distance during check-in and boarding.
Onboard Emirates’ flights, seats are pre-allocated with vacant seats placed between individual passengers or family groups in observance of physical distancing protocols. Food and beverages continue to be offered in the form of bento-style boxes.
Airports such as those in Hong Kong and Seoul have also set up testing stations for inbound arrivals.
Lucas Peng, CEO of Peak Hospitality Solutions, who got on a very empty flight from Singapore to Hong Kong on April 20, described his arrival at Hong Kong airport on social media.
“Staff were very helpful and patient, taking every arriving passenger though the procedures of filling in all the necessary health declaration and tracing document. Explaining the quarantine regulations and attaching the tracking device and sync to the mobile app. Then guided to the bus to Asia Expo to collect saliva sample for the test before allowing us to go home. In addition, providing another sample collection kit for the second test in Day 12. Very professional and very caring.”
Currently, every country is doing what it can to protect its own residents and to guard against a second wave of infections, which is what Singapore is currently experiencing. But at some point, borders have to re-open. What will it take for that to happen?
There have been opinions shared by thought leaders on what it would take for travel to start again. Aviation veteran Timothy O’Neil-Dunne has shared his “7 Stages To The New Normal” and advocated a “Safe Flight Protocol”. Trip.com chairman James Liang proposes some form of a Global Health Code app.
It is crucial there is industry collaboration at the highest level as to what happens at airports and with airlines. In this article, aviation veteran Christoph Muller said it was vital that an internationally-recognised body come up with guidelines that can be used by all airlines and airports. “Somebody needs to draw up the rules of the game – you can’t have one airline saying four abreast is good social distancing, and another saying six abreast. It will be a total mess.”
A cleaner world awaits, we hope
Meantime, just as we now have the cleanest hands ever, we can look forward to a cleaner world. At the start of the crisis, Singapore launched its SG Clean initiative, which gives businesses the SG Clean quality mark after an initial assessment.
Thailand is also working on The Amazing Thailand SHA certification, in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health, as well as a host of other public and private sector organisations to prepare operators for the day tourism returns. How that will take shape is unclear but that could be one positive outcome at least.
Hotels are also cleaning up. In Europe, Accor has joined forces with Bureau Veritas to develop a label designed to certify that the appropriate safety standards and cleaning protocols have been achieved to allow businesses to reopen. Said an Accor spokesperson in Singapore, “In APAC we are working with different local authorities on this and have created our own procedures with i-auditor. In Singapore that will be with SG Clean.”
Marriott International has created the Marriott Global Cleanliness Council which is “focused on developing the next level of global hospitality cleanliness standards, norms and behaviors that are designed to minimize risk and enhance safety for consumers and Marriott associates alike”.
So what will the new normal look like? We asked this question during the WiT Middle East Forum and this was the range of answers we got.
“Less cramped economy class”
“No masks and biohazard suits”
“Intermediaries will give less credit”
“Slower travel with elegance and quality”
“No cash”
“Three-day weekends”
“As close to old normal as possible”
“A lot more socially responsible and environmentally-friendly tourism”
“Remote work”
“Go back to what it was – a lot of growth yet to happen for many countries”
“Cleaner world”
“Less crowded destinations”
“New relationships with investors”
“Redefinition of the travel product”
“Staycations”
What’s your wish for the new normal? After all, it is ours to shape.
• Featured image credit: Tanaonte/Getty Images