As the travel sector rebounds, we talk with Collinson Joint CEO David Evans about global travel recovery and what to expect from the company as we near the second half of 2022.
Collinson is at the heart of the travel industry, so what has the company seen of the global travel recovery so far?
While some regional variations definitely remain – namely in Asia – it is safe to say that the industry is well on its way to recovery, which is great news after a couple of turbulent years. One of the ways we evaluate the bounce back of the travel sector is by looking at the number of daily visits to our lounges.
We’re really happy to say that numbers in Q1 2022 increased by an incredible +147% compared to the same time last year. Half of lounge visits are also now outside of the member’s home country for the first time since Covid, which shows that people are embracing cross-border travel once more.
Currently 84% of the lounges in our Priority Pass network are operational, and we expect that to increase over the next few months, especially given the number of flights now taking place. OAG figures are extremely promising too. They show worldwide international flights in April were only -34% down compared to the same period in 2019 (before pandemic restrictions). That number is even lower in regions that have opened up restrictions more, such as Europe (-18%) and the United States (-13%).
Collinson played a lead role in travel testing during the pandemic. Do you think it will still be important to test passengers for COVID-19 when they travel?
Since the pandemic began, Collinson made it our mission to help keep the travel industry afloat while making traveling as safe as possible for passengers during a difficult time. That first meant educating and encouraging governments to allow travelling with Covid-19 testing requirements in place, and then it meant opening up a host of worldwide testing centres ourselves to support demand. This included launching testing facilities both at airports and in city-centre locations across the UK, Asia and US. To date we’ve processed over 2.2 million tests globally.
But just as we were among the first to advocate for testing as a safe means to enable the continuation of travel during the pandemic, we’ve also been among the first voices to call for the removal of testing requirements as soon as the same requirements had been relaxed in other walks of life in a particular market. An example of this was the UK which removed testing requirements in March 2022.
There cannot, of course, be a global ‘one size fits all’ approach to travel, as different regions still have their own local rules and requirements. For those markets and regions that continue to require enhanced requirements, safe and efficient testing continues to be critical to keeping the travel sector moving. This is particularly true for the Asia Pacific region.
What are the major areas of focus for Collinson this year?
Having added 183 new lounges and experiences in 2021, this year Priority Pass turns 30 and we’ll continue to bring new lounges, experiences and services to key travel hubs, helping our members feel a bit of luxury and most importantly boost their confidence while they begin to travel again after what has been a difficult period for us all.
A number of new dining, sleep and spa offerings have been added to the Priority Pass network this year. Examples of these include Be Relax Spa in Toronto, Mustards Bar & Grill in San Francisco, and the Bahrain Airport Hotel where guests can use sleep pods for a brief rest.
India has also been a big focus for the company so far this year. In February, we launched Priority Pass Access India, a domestic programme with 50 new lounges and experiences across all of the country’s major cities. We’re especially proud of the programme as it’s the only one offering Indian cardholders access to both domestic lounges within India and internationally via their payment card.
As part of the new experience, we announced a partnership with Visa India, which will see eligible cardholders in the region given access to lounges, experiences and services in the Priority Pass network using their Visa credit cards. Already we’re seeing up to 4,000 lounge visits a day in India and that’s just from international flights.
What will travellers look for in the post-COVID period?
During the pandemic, many people were unable to fly, or decided to wait until it was a bit more certain their trip could go ahead. But that didn’t stop them from saving up for dream holidays that they could finally go on after restrictions lifted.
They’re looking to trusted brands to give them what they need as travel resumes – and that means making their experience enjoyable and efficient. One of the aspects of travel that was lost during the pandemic was seamless, end-to-end experiences that people crave when travelling.
Instead, these were replaced with lengthy security and passport queues, as well as additional check points for vaccine passes or testing certificates. As travel restrictions continue to ease, it’s really important that we, as an industry, take these things on board and get back to making the whole journey pleasurable. It’s time to fall in love with travel again.
Note: The Moodie Davitt Report recently launched a publication titled Airport Consumer Experience, in association with Airport Dimensions, dedicated to airport guest services and experiences.
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