Business Travel Executive, Dec 2020/Jan 2021

38 Business Travel Executive askBTE com December 2020 January 2021 TF TECH FILES Traveler Confidence Gets a Tech Boost A fter months of uncertainty good news is finally at hand as viable vaccines are coming online to turn back the deadly COVID 19 pandemic which has caused so much tragedy and disruption While vaccines alone are not cures they do offer the promise of controlling the virus creating immunity and returning our lives our businesses and our travels to some kind of normal So now that medical science has produced a response the world should be looking forward with eager anticipation to the return of travel right Well yes and no According to a poll conducted in October by National Geographic and Morning Consult only 13 percent of Americans would be willing to fly now or before the end of the year Only about a quarter of respondents 24 percent said they would take a flight at some point in 2021 and fully one third said they do not know when they will ever get back on a plane again The gap between the perceived and actual risk of travel since the COVID 19 pandemic arrived has been widening significantly despite the vast quantity of information increasingly available says Suzanne Sangiovese commercial and communications director at travel risk intelligence company Riskline I actually think that information overload conflicting information and misinformation about COVID 19 are rife and are important contributory factors in the increase in this gap With widespread distribution of effective vaccines still weeks in the future and the travel industry struggling to regain its footing heading into 2021 lots of initiatives are underway from pre travel testing to disinfection protocols to mandatory quarantines aimed at reassuring the traveling public Reed Mackay Partners to Offer Risk Tool Priority Testing The impact of uncertainty is reinforced by polls which show that the more safeguards are in place the more likely travelers are to be confident to resume travel Sangiovese says Still the disparity between the perceptions travelers have of the threats they face versus the real risks they may encounter during the pandemic persists Cutting through the vast amount of misinformation providing consistent trustworthy data is essential if we are to close the gap between perceived and actual risk and give travelers confidence New consumer research reveals how easy access to accurate information can boost traveler confidence and accelerate demand G lobal travel management company Reed Mackay has announced two new partnerships with leading medical risk companies to enhance the existing R M Protect and Care Travel Solution Healix International delivers a layered risk assessment tool to provide instant assessments of the medical and logistical risks posed by each unique proposed travel itinerary In addition with access to rapid testing playing a critical role in the return to travel Reed Mackay has partnered with CityDoc to provide reliable COVID 19 tests to individuals and organizations with results within 72 hours of the test sample reaching the lab R M clients will be able to book the tests when they book their travel