Technology has been shaping up the travel industry even when many of us didn’t know about the existence of terms like pandemic, quarantine, asymptotic, social distancing, etc. However, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has made the travel landscape more dependent on technology.

During most of 2020, the travel and tour industry remained at a screeching halt almost all around the world. Thankfully, this year is slightly better for the industry with improved COVD-19 containment strategies and the commencement of vaccination drives.

But despite vaccination rollouts, the pandemic is far from over. Various forecasts suggest that it can take many years of vaccination for achieving anything like “global herd immunity”.

As the travel industry has already borne the most brunt of the pandemic, it is now making sure that it doesn’t suffer at the hands of the virus anymore. Technology has already come to the rescue of the travel industry in various aspects. Therefore, in the next couple of years, we are set to see more tech-enabled and secured traveling.

In this post, we will discuss how the dynamics between the travel and technology spheres will play out in the following years. We will take into account the technological features that can facilitate the travel industry to keep up with its operations amid the pandemic. Also, we will talk about the concept of vaccination passport, how it is supposed to work, and relevant privacy and security challenges.

Without any further delay, let’s start our discussion on travel and technology in the years of the pandemic.

Contactless Traveling: A Future Turning Into Present through Technology

Humankind’s dream of running errands and executing tasks through automation with the least human involvement is not new. It has been a recurring theme in science fiction for decades. Tech firms and scientists were already working on various elements to add automation and rule out “contact” from how we go about things.

However, the COVID-19 has amplified this process, especially for the travel industry. From checking in at the airport to collecting your luggage and using hotel rooms to making payments, traveling is transforming into an automated and touchless affair. If we have to pick the most groundbreaking development of the travel-technology landscape in the backdrop of the pandemic, it is the beginning of contactless traveling.

Contactless traveling entails a journey where the passenger comes across virtually no touchpoints (kiosks, doorknobs, keys, counters, etc) while using airports, hotels, and shops. The contactless technology will enable them to fulfill needed requirements at every phase of the journey with minimal human interaction and almost no physical contact.

Let’s look at the individual touchless components that will come together to ensure contactless traveling.

Contactless Airport Check-Ins

Many airlines and airports have already started offering passengers to check-in, get their bags tagged, and board the plane without touching anything except for their own devices and luggage. From infrared proximity sensors to QR scanning and biometrics and facial recognition protocols, there are various technological elements making contactless check-ins possible. While contactless check-in hasn’t become a standard across the aviation industry, many carriers and airports have started practicing in various ways.

Here, we will share with you some real-life examples of how contactless check-in is getting implemented around the world.

• Avinor AS is Norway’s state-owned limited company that oversees the operations at almost all the civil airports in the country. It has introduced an end-to-end touchless program that enables passengers to check-in for their flights via their phones at more than 40 airports of its network.
• Changi Airport Singapore— one of the biggest transportation hubs in Asia— has installed check-in kiosks that offer touchless use. The screens installed in those kiosks have infrared proximity sensors that detect the passenger’s finger motion when they point towards a certain option on the screen.
• Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru, India has introduced contactless “parking to boarding” journey based on facial recognition technology. Facial biometric sensors are being used to get the passengers through check-in, bag checks, and security screening without getting in contact with any surface or exchanging documents with staff.
• United Airlines, one of the biggest US airlines, has installed contactless check-in kiosks across domestic and international airports. These contactless check-in kiosks work through QR scanning.

Many other airports and airlines are also embracing the touchless technology for check-in kiosks and Passenger Reconciliation Systems (PRSs) to ensure that the traveling can continue amid the pandemic without putting travelers’ health into jeopardy.

Contactless Inflight Entertainment

There was a time when people would get excited to use inflight entertainment with touchscreens. The pandemic has undone that development. Now, passengers are wary of using seat-back inflight entertainment even if they are assured that the screens are sanitized. This is why most airlines have started promoting BYOD (bring your own device) model for inflight entertainment. However, many airlines are also mulling over the option to introduce contactless seat-back displays.

Qatar Airways has already announced the rollout of those zero-touch inflight entertainment systems. The Airline is collaborating with a tech firm to get their airplanes upgraded with back-seat screens that can be intuitively paired with electronic devices (through QR scanning). After pairing, passengers will be able to control and navigate the airline’s IFE (inflight entertainment) system for its more than 4,000 entertainment options.

More airlines are likely to follow in the footsteps of Qatar Airways to introduce similar contactless IFE systems.

Contactless Hotel Check-Ins

Big hotel chains continuously work to make their customer experience as seamless as possible. Contactless service provision is also considered a great prospect to improve the guest experience. The pandemic has pushed hotel managements for adopting more proactive strategies to make the contactless arrival experience a reality.

An ideal contactless hotel experience entails a process where guests can bypass the front desk to choose their rooms, check-in, check-out, and use hotel amenities without touching anything other than their personal devices and with minimal human involvement.

Big hotel conglomerates like Intercontinental, Marriot, and Hilton are already offering contactless check-ins through their various programs. Now, more hotels even with localized footprints will introduce ways through which guests don’t have to use fobs and talk to front desk representatives to use their room.

We would also like to mention here that Hilton Hotels were ahead of the curve when they introduced their digital key feature back in 2015. This digital key lets guests access their room via their smartphone (through the Hilton’s official app).

Contactless Payments

Even before the consequential year of 2020, contactless payments were getting popular across the commercial landscape. However, their popularity was due to their convenience factor rather than how they could save the spread of a virus. With the pandemic and the travel industry’s mission to cut down physical touchpoints from a passenger’s journey, contactless payments are now quickly prevailing across airline and airport operations.

Online and digital (contactless) payments are not new for booking airline and hotel tickets. However, the operations at airport stores are still very much rooted in traditional cash transactions and POS card swipes that involve some inevitable touchpoints. However, the Munich Airport has taken the charge and set the precedent for contactless payments at airport shops and stores as well.

The Airport has introduced a “Smart Checkout” that enables customers to pay for any item right there on the shelf. They don’t have to bring the item to the cash register or checkout counter to make the payment. In stores with Smart Checkout, customers can pay for any product by scanning its electronic price tag through their phone camera (QR scanning). The scan will redirect the customer to the payment page where they can opt for the digital payment option of their preference.

With all the on-ground demonstration of different aspects of touchless technology we have discussed here, one can safely assume that contactless traveling is not the future anymore. It has already entered the present.

Vaccine Passport: A Key to Normalcy or Privacy Concern?

The term “vaccine passport” has emerged as a new buzzword in the tech and travel industry. It is getting a lot of traction from tech, medical, human rights, and data privacy advocacy circles. As the heading suggests, the jury is still out on the usefulness of a vaccine passport. But irrespective of that, here we will try to provide you with brief explainers on everything that you need to know about vaccine passports.

What Are Vaccine Passports?

A vaccine passport is essentially proof of an individual for their immunization against the coronavirus. A vaccine passport can allow the passport-holder to get entry into venues and events with others bearing similar vaccine passports. It can also turn into a requirement on top of a valid visa and national passport to clear the immigration to enter other countries.

As of now, vaccine passports don’t have any standardized form and figure. They can be like regular passes, cards, dedicated smartphone apps, or QR scans

What Purpose Will Vaccine Passport Serve?

A vaccine passport can serve on many fronts to restore the normalcy of pandemic-struck life. For starters, a vaccine passport can secure nationwide and international traveling. Allowing only those passengers that have valid vaccine passports will reduce the chances of virus spread at airports and other transportation hubs to virtually zero.

Moreover, vaccine passports can help restore social life. With vaccine passports, it will become possible once again to organize sports, music festivals, and other social events with in-person attendance.

What Are the Privacy and Security Concerns Associated with Vaccine Passports?

A vaccine passport is going to contain a lot of pieces of personal information. From the date of birth to underlying health conditions, many personal details will become accessible to various entities through vaccine passports. With no regulatory oversight (as of yet), privacy experts believe that all this information can be exploited just like what happens with the information that gets compromised in data breaches.

Since vaccine passport is still a developing concept, we are yet to see how governments and other organizations overseeing the rollout of this COVID-19 immunization proof will address the relevant privacy and security concerns.

Vaccine Passports and Its Variants in Different Parts of the World

Different countries have already started rolling out their vaccine passports. Some are working on it. Meanwhile, some countries have also decided not to make it an official piece of personal documentation. Let’s quickly scan through different forms of vaccine passports that will be used in different countries and jurisdictions.

The European Union

The European Union (EU) is planning to launch a Digital Green Certificate (commonly referred to as COVID Card) to its member states. This vaccine passport will show the vaccination, testing, and infection recovery details of the bearer.

The US

For now, the federal administration has decided to not issue any official vaccine passport. However, states are free to introduce their own certifications and passes. New York has already taken the lead by issuing its own vaccine passport (aka The Excelsior Pass).

The UK

The UK is also developing a COVID-status certification system with help of the NHS. This will act as a pass for participation in events taking place in closed settings without masks and social distancing.

Israel

Israel has also issued an entry permit for its recovered and vaccinated citizens in the form of a “Green Pass”.

UAE

The UAE has introduced a vaccine card that people have to carry when they are going out and want to get access to different public spaces (malls, cinemas, restaurants, etc).

Thailand

Thailand has officially introduced a “jab passport”.

Final Thoughts

Going by the discussion above, it is quite clear that the role of technology will only increase in the travel industry in the next few years. The discussion also reveals that the existing technology has the potential to salvage the travel and tour industry from the horrors of last year. Moreover, one can see that the use of technology is setting the precedent for the travel industry on how to operate during pandemics and viral outbreaks in the future.