‘Stress and tests’ the new normal for international travel

More stress and more tests is how global travel leaders see the year ahead for those brave enough to take off overseas.

A survey of travel experts has revealed more than half believe Covid tests will be part of international travel until the end of 2022. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe/NCA NewsWire

International travel will mean more stress and more tests in the coming year, according to many of the world’s top travel executives.

More than 400 industry leaders from airlines, aviation suppliers and travel agencies responded to the survey examining travel expectations by Collinson and the CAPA Centre for Aviation.

Although close to 40 per cent believed travel would fully recover in 2023, 79 per cent were of the view it would be a more stressful experience than before the pandemic.

One of the reasons for that, was the expectation pre- and post-flight Covid-19 tests would remain a requirement until the end of next year for travellers.

Just over half of the respondents (54 per cent) believed Covid-19 tests were here for another 12 months while a quarter expected PCR testing to stick around until the end of 2023.

The cost and inconvenience of pre- and post-flight Covid-19 testing has been described by travel leaders like Qantas CEO Alan Joyce as a major deterrent to travel.

Flight Centre CEO Graham Turner was also keen to see expensive PCR tests replaced with rapid antigen tests to help streamline and simplify the travel process.

“One PCR test costs $150 so for a family of four that’s $600 at least,” said Mr Turner.

“A more sensible approach would be if (governments) accepted antigen tests which are very accurate, or self tests so people would know whether they were right to travel.”

The survey by global travel company Collinson in partnership with CAPA Centre for Aviation, found there remained mixed feelings about the “safety” of travel.

Although 10 per cent believed it was still unsafe to travel, 42 per cent disagreed, providing everyone adhered to Covid-prevention measures such as vaccination, mask-wearing and social distancing.

From next week, all Qantas and Jetstar frontline crews will be fully vaccinated against Covid-19, after the airline group set a November 15 deadline for pilots, flight attendants and customer service staff to be double-jabbed.

Those who were yet to meet the requirement remained on leave or stood down, with Qantas set to review their vaccination status before they returned to work.

Rex could also boast fully vaccinated frontline staff, and Virgin Australia was expected to have its flight and cabin crews all double dosed by November 15.

Alliance Aviation, which was Australia’s first company to mandate Covid-19 vaccination for all staff, announced this week that 100 per cent of workers had received a single dose of vaccine, with the majority fully vaxxed.

The return of business travel garnered the most pessimistic response of the survey with 86 per cent convinced the sector would struggle to reach two-thirds of its pre-pandemic level next year.

In the Asia Pacific region, a third of those surveyed thought business travel would not even get to 20 per cent of 2019 levels.

Asia Pacific president for Collinson Todd Handcock said ongoing research was critical to understanding industry sentiment and taking the required actions to support the safe, long-term return of global travel.

“While the travel recovery progress isn’t happening at the pace we’d hoped for, particularly in the Asia Pacific region, we are seeing steps in the right direction,” Mr Handcock said.

“Generally speaking, we are seeing a reprioritisation of travelling safely, purposely and responsibly.”

For business travel, Mr Handcock said the recovery would be about “understanding and evolving travel risk management strategies by engaging the right professional support”.

“For brands in the travel space, there’s increased importance being placed on loyalty programs with regards to keeping brands front of travellers’ minds,” he said.