![]() Group CEO Jane Sun identifies three key trends. Their concern is actually going home and bringing the disease, infecting their parents or grandparents.”Īnd this fear is shaping how travellers approach journeys. “So younger travellers are not necessarily concerned for themselves. “Here in Asia, many families live with their parents or their grandparents at home, who are more at risk,” he says. While green shoots are present in some markets, Mario Hardy, CEO of travel industry body the Pacific Asia Travel Association, argues that many Asian travellers maintain a genuine fear of infection. In China, travel activities hit the bottom in February and have since been consistently on a recovery track.” “However, it is encouraging that by now, we have seen stabilisation or recovery of travel activities in many of the markets where we operate. ![]() “The Covid-19 pandemic has brought significant challenges to the global travel industry,” he says. Liang says product innovation, such as ’s live-streaming initiative which brings destinations and accommodation to life in real time, is key to the travel industry’s recovery. ![]() James Liang is chairman of Group, one of the world’s largest online travel agents, operating in 19 languages across 200 countries and regions. Yet reopening travel presents its own challenges. And travellers, many of whom have been largely confined to their homes for months, are starting to dream again of beaches, mountains and monuments. Today, as much of Asia begins to emerge from lockdown, an industry that accounts for about 10% of world GDP is looking towards the new normal. Amid closed borders and cancelled flights, travel came to a virtual standstill, with the United Nations’ World Tourism Organisation declaring 100% of global destinations had implemented travel restrictions at the peak of the pandemic. From hand sanitisers in hotel lobbies to cabin crew in masks, localised lockdowns to contact tracing apps, Covid-19 has transformed the world of travel.
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