‘Travel during Covid-19 was complex, cumbersome and time-consuming due to government-imposed travel requirements,’ says Nick Careen, IATA’s senior vice president for operations, safety and security.

‘Post-pandemic, passengers want improved convenience throughout their trip. Digitalisation and use of biometrics to speed up the travel journey is the key.’

Passengers want convenience when they plan their travel and when choosing where to depart from. Their preference is to fly from an airport close to home, have all booking options and services available in one single place, pay with their preferred payment method and easily offset their carbon emissions, the survey shows.

Proximity to the airport was passengers’ main priority when choosing where to fly from (75%). This was more important than ticket price (39%).

Having access to planning and booking information in one single place was identified as being top priority.

‘Travellers have told us that barriers to travel remain. Countries with complex visa procedures are losing the economic benefits that these travellers bring. Where countries have removed visa requirements, tourism and travel economies have thrived. For countries requiring certain categories of travellers to get visas, taking advantage of traveller willingness to use online processes and share information in advance would be a win-win solution,’ says Careen.

More than 35% of travellers say they have been discouraged from travelling to a particular destination because of the immigration requirements. Process complexity was highlighted as the main deterrent by 65% of travelers, 12% cited costs and 8% time.