Frequent fliers can't wait to get back in the skies again, with 77% of travellers in Asia ready to fly within the next 12 months.
The pent-up sentiment for travel was captured in a global survey of 46,000 members of Collinson’s Priority Pass programme.
Safety is also key for these APAC travellers, with 82% keen to use vaccine passport to enter a country — higher than the global average of 74% — and 41% indicating that being vaccinated is their top motivating factor when considering travel again.
Although Asia currently has a lower vaccination rate compared to the EU and US, 79% of travellers cite a growing confidence in the safety of air travel as more people are vaccinated.
Globally, 76% of members say they would feel confident to travel internationally if getting vaccinated became a mandatory measure. This sentiment is echoed by a further 64% of travellers who agree that Covid-19 testing and the use of digital health certificates would encourage them to travel abroad.
Furthermore, 60% of APAC travellers do not feel that quarantine is an essential safety measure, while a further 69% see it as a major deterrent for international travel.
When asked what the reasons were behind these strong sentiments towards quarantine, 83% point to the additional costs involved and 69% also cite the unpredictable nature of quarantine rules, while 62% are reluctant to spend so much time indoors — paralleling consistent sentiments of travellers' increased focus on wellness and connection to nature.
The survey showed that 33% of APAC travellers indicated that the lifting of international travel bans would be their top reason to travel again.
As a result, the consumer travel experience and expectations have also changed dramatically — keeping external contact to a minimum.
Starting from the first point at the airport, 24% are more likely to use unmanned facilities, such as biometric passport kiosks; 48% are more likely to use airport lounge access than they did before the pandemic; 20% are more likely to pre-order and collect their food and drinks before departure; and 49% indicated that social distancing and contactless transactions at the airport are of a relatively high importance when travelling.