As the public continues to receive vaccinations, many travelers will be eager to take advantage of their immunization and take to the skies. In response to the increased demands for travel, the safety and health standards for air and ground travel have increased across the board. The travel industry forecasts the development of new trends and technology to meet the needs of travelers.
Read more about our travel industry outlook and what we forecast for the future of the travel industry in the coming year.
PERMANENTLY INCREASED HEALTH, SAFETY, AND SECURITY STANDARDS
There will be a higher priority placed upon all-around safety and duty of care in the travel industry’s future. Following a global pandemic and significant civil unrest in 2020, companies are getting smarter about supporting the health and safety of travelers. In our 2021 travel industry outlook, we can expect not just further sanitization and social distancing, but better enforcement of these safety measures.
Corporations have raised their standards for duty of care regarding business trips, perhaps permanently. Magnatech, a global auditor of health and security in travel, has upped its standards for protecting workforces to include factors related to 2020 concerns.
For an example of increased health and safety standards, just look at hotels that have raised their standard across all platforms to accommodate this heightened duty of care, including:
Assessing the security of the surrounding city, not just the hotel itself
Assessing local transportation to and from hotels and venues
Including staff safety training in assessments
Raising the global benchmarks for safety and security accreditation
When we consider just how much our international and national standards have risen over the past year, the travel industry forecast for 2021 inspires confidence and comfort.
A HEIGHTENED PRIORITIZATION ON SUSTAINABILITY
The United States has renewed its commitment to the Paris Agreement, which encourages efforts towards sustainability. Airlines are already feeling pressure from governments around the world to mitigate their environmental footprints with more fuel-efficient aircraft and eco-friendly company practices. That will affect costs, the destinations we can travel to, and the transportation used to get there.
TRAVEL COSTS
Efficient aircraft represent the future of the travel industry, and developing planes to meet these standards is a cost that airlines may pass on to passengers through ticket prices in the short term. But airline ticket prices have been steadily falling for the past 30 years when adjusted for inflation
Travelers may also see steep discounts for rail travel, especially in Europe where governments are increasingly subsidizing land-bound journeys over short-haul flights.
SPACE TRAVEL
Space tourism has been the realm of science fiction until very recently. After 16 years of research and development, Virgin Galactic is finally opening opportunities for space flights to the public in 2021
At first, only a few people per year will have the chance to feel weightlessness and see the earth from space. But we forecast that the travel industry will provide greater availability for space tourism over time as more opportunities become available, costs come down, and companies establish promising safety records.
PLAN YOUR FUTURE TRAVEL PLANS WITH A TRUSTED ADVISOR
There will be a need for specialists in the travel industry long into the future. It takes the insight of a professional to help plan a seamless and memorable journey for business or leisure.
For help planning the road to your next destination, contact Telios Travel.
