How hotels, airlines and cruise lines will change forever because of coronavirus
Keyless room entry, COVID-19 quality assurance systems and the death of the buffet. Welcome to the many small ways in which the pandemic will change travel and tourism forever.
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WELCOMING smiles behind surgical masks. Keyless entry for hotel room doors. COVID-19 quality assurance systems. Ghastly things coming to business class, like in-flight-meals served in foil packages.
These are just some of the emerging realities of travel and tourism in the age of coronavirus.
As Australia takes its first tentative steps out of lockdown, reports of the development of a COVID-19 vaccine are promising, but its delivery is not guaranteed.
This grim fact is forcing all sectors of the tourism industry to adapt to new ways of operating that minimise the risk of transmission at every conceivable step. Business as not-quite-usual.
One thing seems certain: your mobile phone will be indispensable. Barcodes sent via apps will unlock doors; payment systems will make cash money seem both redundant and repugnant; entry tickets will arrive via email.
“(Mobile phones are) just getting more and more important,” said Brett Jardine, Managing Director of the Council of Australian Tourism Operators.
He cites an app developed by one of the association’s members. “You land in Rome, say, and you can use the app to deliver your own self-guided experience, and that is just one of many cities that they have.”
The need for social distancing will change the dynamics of many big tourist events, whether it be footy finals, an agricultural show or a night at the opera.
Another certainty: smaller touring groups.
“You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to think people will be looking to travel in smaller groups, initially,” Mr Jardine said.
CRUISING: A TOTAL RETHINK
In cruising – arguably the sector most clobbered by the pandemic – the crisis is prompting a ‘kerb to kerb’ rethink of the customer’s journey.
“We are looking at every aspect of the cruise experience, from the time the passenger books all the way through to the point when they get home,” Cruise Line Industry Association CEO Joel Katz told News Corp. “We’re looking at all the touch points and the risk aspects of every step of that process and each is being reviewed.”
Detailed health questionnaires and testing of passengers before they board a ship are likely to be “a key part of any protocol” that’s developed, Mr Katz said.
“Currently ships aren’t able to test on board, and swabs need to be sent to shore. We’ll look at how feasible it is to test passengers and crew on board,” he said. “We’ll be looking at what options there are for quarantining on board. We’ll (also) look at the manning of the medical facilities, whether there are any specific skills that are needed in addition to what we already have. Everything is up for discussion.”
Ships that are equipped with their own Intensive Care Units have also been mooted as a possibility. Mr Katz pointed out that this would not be practical for all cruise liners, but “certainly the facilities will be enhanced”.
Back-to-back cruising – a popular option for many devotees who book consecutive voyages – is definitely set to change when the industry restarts.
“[Previously] you may get 10 or 20 per cent [of passengers] who will stay on for the next cruise. I think you will find that in a restart scenario everyone will be very focused on minimising risk. Even if somebody books a consecutive cruise they will still have to go through the same screening and testing regime that all the other passengers and crew are going through,” Mr Katz said.
Rolling passenger manifests – a feature of some European cruises – will be out in cruising’s brave new world, while in Australia it is likely that ships will run with fewer people on board.
“Most ships [in Australia] run at 100 per cent occupancy,” Mr Katz said. “But when ships initially start up they may start up with lower occupancy than they normally carry,” he said.
Itineraries are also set to change. In a recent call with investors, Royal Caribbean Cruises CEO and Chairman Richard Fain listed destination safety as one of the key areas the company was looking at, in addition to pre-board screening and on-board processes.
“We know that the public expects that we will elevate our health and safety protocols to a new level and we are prepared to make sure we meet and exceed those expectations,” Mr Fain said.
HOTELS: ASSURING COVID-19 COMPLIANCE
To inform customers of those measures, cruise liners may join hotels in establishing new independently-assessed benchmarks in cleaning practices – a COVID-19 quality assurance system, if you like.
The major hotel chains are looking at such a system internationally now, Tourism Accommodation Australia CEO Michael Johnson told News Corp.
Under this plan, hotels would be audited to ensure their cleaning protocols were rigorous, their staff had up-to-date training, that they had made provision for social distancing throughout the venue, and that guests were given adequate health messaging (including a requirement that they inform staff if they are feeling unwell).
A COVID-19 certification would become a major selling point for a hotel, particularly when travel first starts to open up again, Mr Johnson said, and “you’ll find the independent operators will follow suit otherwise they could get left behind”.
The shift will partly be driven by corporate HR departments, who will insist that their employees stay at COVID-19 certified establishments and only do in-room dining when on business trips, Mr Johnson said.
A certification system would also offer a hotel operator some chance of survival in the event of a coronavirus outbreak on-site, because they could at least show the market they were taking all the right precautions, he said.
“The customer expectation will be very high, particularly around cleanliness and hygiene,” he said. “It’s not to say that they haven’t been before, but they will be watching, and seeing those hotels that are doing it well.”
The new normal for the hotel sector will also likely include a concerted shift towards minimising touchpoints, with online check-in, keyless door entry, and big changes coming to food and beverage service.
Major hotels will open up fewer of their eateries – at least at first, when occupancy is low – and stop offering buffets, Mr Johnson predicted.
“Buffets as we have known them to be won’t be there because there are too many levels of touch points,” he said. “We may see the buffet still produced but the service staff go to the buffet on your behalf.”
AVIATION: FLYING THE CORONAVIRUS SKIES
Food on board commercial flights is also set for an overhaul.
Forget the days of plated meals in the business and premium economy cabins, complete with linen cloths, chilled cutlery and much fussing about by the attendant.
“The airlines will go back to what they used to do, and deliver food to you in an aluminium container with a foil topping, so there’s no contact from the flight attendant with the food whatsoever,” aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas told News Corp.
“It will be totally packaged, and in economy these days that’s the case anyway. It’s all about minimising contact.”
Qantas was one of the first airlines to announce new measures for flying the coronavirus skies, including the provision of masks and sanitising wipes for passengers, contactless check-in, and simplified on-board service.
Emirates have since introduced hygiene kits for passengers with masks, gloves (mandatory in Dubai airport), antibacterial wipes and hand sanitiser. Extra cabin attendants are cleaning on-board toilets every 45 minutes.
“The whole industry is taking a very aggressive approach because the biggest issue is passenger confidence,” Mr Thomas said. “The industry is pushing for a global standard for all airlines to follow, rather than having a confusing scenario which is what we had with liquids and gels [after September 11], where you can have it in some countries and you can’t have it in others. They will want to have a standard right across the industry.”
One measure that is not currently standard across the industry is the temperature testing of passengers prior to boarding.
In Australia, mining companies Rio Tinto and BHP take the temperature of FIFO (Fly In Fly Out) mining workers before flights, but Mr Thomas said he “wouldn’t be surprised” if the measure was rolled out to include all flyers.
A number of airports such as Hong Kong and Dubai have thermal imaging cameras which take pictures of all incoming passengers – a hangover from the SARS outbreak in 2003/04 – and Mr Thomas said it was an appropriate time to for such technology to be “mandated across the globe”.
News Corp understands the Australian Aviation Recovery Coalition is currently looking at the issue of thermal cameras at airports, but no decisions have yet been made.
In the meantime, handheld temperature monitors may well become industry standard – until, of course, a vaccine becomes available.
“Once everyone has been vaccinated, those things will disappear, just like plastic cutlery and plastic cups disappeared after 9/11,” Mr Thomas said. “As time goes by the need for those things disappear, so they’ll fall away.”
Originally published as How hotels, airlines and cruise lines will change forever because of coronavirus
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