Travel Industry Must Fix ‘Trust Gaps’ as it Restarts

A new study by Travelport finds that the travel industry must regain consumer trust by addressing issues related to transparency and communication about pricing, health and safety and usage of their personal data. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hit reset. You don’t get a lot of those with consumers, so it’s important we take the lessons of this study and apply them quickly to the recovery so the industry can bounce back faster,” says Jen Catto, Travelport’s chief marketing officer. Catto says that certain expectations from customers, mostly driven by online shopping brands, lead consumers to believe the travel industry as a whole can create a more trustworthy e-commerce experience. Respondents indicate the top two factors for them to trust travel companies are “no hidden costs” (55%) in the shopping process and “fully flexible or refundable products” (45%). But while they select those as the most important factors, the majority of respondents also indicate they do not believe the industry is succeeding in meeting either of these expectations. The Travelport study studied 11,000 travellers by commissioning consulting firm Edelman.