Few industries have suffered more at the hands of Covid-19 than international travel, which ground to a halt in early 2020 as borders closed and millions of people were ordered to stay at home. Last year saw the sharpest annual decline in air traffic on record: passenger demand was down 65.9% on 2019’s total, according to the International Air Transport Association. The UN World Tourism Organization estimates that the economic impact on the industry in 2020 alone was $1tn (£710bn) – a loss that put about 120 million jobs at risk.
Even as economies have started to reopen in recent months, travel remains one of the last sectors to benefit from the easing of restrictions. Early in June 2021, operators were dismayed when the UK government downgraded Portugal to its so-called amber list at short notice (meaning that people returning from the country would need to quarantine at home for 10 days). The move forced thousands of British tourists who’d booked holidays in Portugal while it was on the green list to cut short their trips before the restrictions kicked in.
Although the travel industry might have sustained the biggest blow, it may be better equipped than most to recover from it. While businesses in several sectors have been obliged to spend millions of pounds on converting themselves quickly into ecommerce operations, at least travel hasn’t had that problem. The industry was undergoing its own digital transformation for several years before the pandemic.