Travel was always an inevitable part of our lives. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought an unprecedented halt to the trillion-dollar travel industry. The planet has changed from
moving through the clouds to living inside the confined atmosphere of homes. It has made way for a change. Tourism has been the worst affected of all major economic sectors. Against the backdrop of heightened uncertainty, up-to-date and reliable information is more critical than ever, both for tourists and the tourism sector. The travel technology post-COVID must ensure the least human interaction by employing artificial intelligence (AI). Pre-planned travels would be a choice, rather than backpacking trips. E-visa and E-passport systems are likely to be adopted by the authorities.
The online poll conducted by Network 18 shows that 57 per cent of the respondents do not see themselves taking a flight or train this year. Similarly, the willingness of travellers has gone down amid the ongoing crisis. It mainly exists because of the current travel technology, which includes too much human interaction, both physically and verbally. For the tourism industry to stand on its legs again, there is an urgency to plan a new set of travel technology which will help in post-COVID travelling.
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It has been a long time since the tourism and travel industry is in standstill. All most all the other sectors are collaborating with the digital platforms to grow with new rules and regulations. Travel and tourism is the most-wealthy industry, and so many stakeholders are directly or indirectly related to its growth and sustainability. It is high time to bring some changes with new guidelines. With more than 80 per cent of the world holding back to travel once more, the business has a significant weight of developing by the instructions of the new rules. Later on, the advancements that the market will see are probably going to be digitised, making them increasingly keen on options for the voyager. It would not only eliminate regular human interaction, but also help one execute tasks remotely so that busy environments are avoided.
Here’s how we see a change in many facets of the travel cycle as international travel opens:
More Time on Planning
The planning of a trip will now be even more detailed. Our watchwords of looking and each progression for our next excursion could be coded around alert, laws, wellbeing and security. Impromptu trips with little to no planning in the future could prove to be a mistake for travellers. Citizens will choose to become much more mindful of the destinations they want for their next holiday. And they will plan advanced bookings for the future, not only for accommodation but also for local sight-seeing.
Digital alternatives will also be highly adopted while on the voyage. For instance, cards empowered for computerised instalment utilising cell phones, wearables, and Near Field Communication (NFC) will see more popularity not exclusively to permit a contactless framework yet, also, to stay away from a surge at cash stalls. Location-based information systems that can provide people with immediate medical assistance, fast reference lists, real-time news notifications, etc. can also build a base. It can make the traveller more dependent on planning technology and ready for their next ride.
According to Shraddha Kadel, Co-founder, Wandercue Travel, a travel startup planning cues for travellers:“Most of the future holidays will be mini-vacations, can be termed as MiniCations in an isolated exotic location where health will be the main focus. As a travel planner, we ‘re trying to make sure we don’t send people to areas that are vulnerable to crowding or illness, and our travel ideas are moving towards isolation. Additionally, disinfectant spray, face shield, masks must be issued with the travel pack.With this, we need to prepare a top-notch location where our customers do not need to burn a hole in the pocket, and this can be achieved in partnership with companies such as Airbnb which takes good precautions. The new travel strategy in the post-pandemic world will bring limited options, but it will ensure excellent safety and security.”
A reverse trend may be seen as travellers lean more on trusted brands and hospitality chains with set sanitation and hygiene standards, rather than local homes and public transportation. Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligence innovations can likewise assume a first job in teaching explorers about the world they need and the security estimates they need, consequently comforting their psyches and helping them settle on informed choices.
Welcoming More E-Ports
We can effectively draw up a roadmap for future international travel with the reopening of essential domestic air travels. Of late, self-administration booths, online registration, digital ID modes, and so on were extraordinarily supported for air travel. They give the least human touchpoints, and this, thus, limits the probability of contamination. However, after each use, sanitising touch screens may be an effort on the part of service providers.
Voyagers ought to likewise be urged to take a gander at advanced open doors in documentation preparing when the skies are available to global travel. Solutions like eVisas and ePassport gates allow for the digital processing of critical travel documents with added data protection layers.
The electronic visa on arrival arrangement utilised for heading out to Thailand has been curiously promoted, because it permits one to clear visa on arrival conventions, which is typically a period taking procedure.
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At the other hand, ePassport gates that use facial recognition technology to verify the identity of the traveller against the data stored in the chip in their biometric passport can also help to verify health risk to the destination country beyond just security risk. There are likewise worldwide activities in play to guarantee a more astute digitised 
explorer venture.
An impressive World Economic Forum initiative ‘Known Traveller Digital Identity (KTDI)’ brings a global chain of people, governments, authorities and the travel industry together to improve global travel security. KTDI enables users to access their profiles and collect digital ‘attestations’ of their data, allowing them to determine by consensus what data to share and when. The more a client shares authentications, the better it is for specialists to process the movement consistently and efficiently.
Self-service will be a considerable part of the new normal for travellers across the globein the time to come.
Wellbeing Check
Additionally, how one picks convenience and the administrations accessible to voyagers in the goals will change. Voyagers must be aware of their assets and guarantee that their gear and other individual things are likewise purified. Ultraviolet disinfection tunnels at the entry points can be a choice to provide protection.
Neeraj Agarwal, a wanderer, speaks about the necessities that must be possessed shortly to shape the travel safely and securely:
“The travelling, unlike past, will not exist in future. It will lean more towards the safety first aspect, and it will give people very less choice for destinations, so, to cope up with that least one to one interaction at all levels. From bookings to stay, everything must remain contactless.”
There may likewise be an expansion in IoT (Internet of things)-empowered baggage and other essential travel so that one can screen their effects and know about the things with which they come into contact. Then again, advanced room keys for the lodging that can permit you to enter without holding up at swarmed gatherings are likewise sure to pick up. Digital avenue reservations that would enable individuals to plan travel remotely have become a popular choice over the years. Still, now their value is much higher and more essential for today’s traveller.
Besides, facial recognition and ultraviolet disinfection are to emerge as a new mode of verification and disinfection, respectively, because anything that involves the least involvement of human touch will be the new normal in post-COVID world for the travel buffs.
Technology is undoubtedly set to have a strong influence on consumer behaviour in the coming era, because it provides a smarter, faster and safer way of travelling.
