Trust in the travel experience for women is paramount at any time, however a new survey claims a credibility gap in the travel industry – particularly airlines and insurance companies – is adding a further barrier to the resumption of travel during and post pandemic.
The study conducted by women’s travel website, JourneyWoman, shows that women lack the trust and transparency they need to feel comfortable to travel.
Though the study invited 1,513 experienced women travellers from the JourneyWoman community around the world to share perceptions on the risks associated with travel in an online study and in focus groups, the results reflect a primarily North American perspective.
“Embracing the Unknown: The Risk and Reward of Travel,” surveyed highly experienced women travellers in the influential 55-75-plus demographic to assess shifts in travel, including the impact of the pandemic on decision-making criteria, reputation and trust, and destination choice.
Among the results:
The erosion of reputation
• When it comes to sources of information, women place their trust in medical professionals, public healthcare authorities and healthcare organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO). Canadians were found to be more trusting of government while Americans are more likely to trust social media.
• Most respondents believe that travel-related businesses have not done a good job of managing reputation during COVID-19. When asked who has done a poor, acceptable, or good job managing reputation, only hotels ranked as net positive. Airlines and insurance companies were seen to have done a poor job overall.
• Handling of COVID-19 by states/ provinces are viewed as neutral for Canadians but are considerably negative for Americans.
How to travel – the new criteria
• Women still want to pursue their bucket list, with most eager for new, undiscovered destinations. However, they are seeking less populated places and using new criteria, including transportation in and out of a destination, access and quality of healthcare and a country’s handling of COVID-19, to make decisions.
• Over 71% of women typically purchase travel insurance, with comprehensive insurance the most popular. Americans are more likely to take no insurance or just trip cancellation insurance, whereas Canadians are more likely to take just medical insurance.
Where to go – the ideal destination redefined
• Western Europe and North America remain attractive destinations for Canadian and American women. The first destinations women will travel to outside of their home country, include the UK, Canada, France, Italy, and Ireland; 72% will not go to China.
• Canadians’ outlook on the US is negative, whereas domestic travel is overwhelmingly the most attractive for Americans.
• Women prefer to stay with friends and family, small boutiques, bed and breakfasts, where travellers have greater control over their environment. Canadians are more negative towards large hotels versus Americans.
• Large cruises did not perform well, with the vast majority (82%) not considering cruises. Forty percent said they will not stay at large resorts.
“Trust is fundamental to every relationship and transaction, and it’s even more important when it comes to travel,” says Carolyn Ray, CEO of JourneyWoman. “Our study shows that we’re not only having a public health and travel crisis; we’re having a trust crisis. The pandemic has given the travel services industry an opportunity to demonstrate a deep commitment to women’s safety, yet it is clearly not meeting the expectations of the world’s most seasoned and influential travellers.
“Experienced women travellers, those who understand both the risk and reward of travel, will not travel until they believe that their safety and health come before corporate profits.”
Women are the primary travel decision makers, and research destinations, plan travel and influence recommendations of friends and family through their own experiences. In the study, which was conducted in June, the majority of respondents were not planning to travel internationally until 2021, with most planning to wait until the second half of 2021. Seventy-three percent of respondents said they would pay more to feel safe when travelling.