People are open to stringent screening if it means they can travel again

A new survey has found travellers are willing to adhere to measures they might previously have found objectionable – simply to get back in the air

A thermal imaging system is seen inside an airport in Santiago. Courtesy Reuters

Would you be willing to undergo stringent screening, tracking and testing procedures if it meant you could travel again?

If so, you are not alone.

A new survey by Global Rescue has found that travellers are more willing to accept measures they might previously have found objectionable, if it means they can get back in the air.

Out of the 1,300 respondents, 91 per cent said they would be willing to subject themselves to screening and testing; 73 per cent were willing to disclose medical conditions related to a compromised immune system; 93 per cent were willing to share their past 14-day travel history; and 58 per cent were willing to have their physical location tracked and traced, even if that data was temporarily retained.

The survey also offered an insight into when people expected to travel again.

It showed people were relatively optimistic about a return to some form of normalcy: 41 per cent expected to make their next trip by July at the latest; 77 per cent thought they would be able to take a trip by the end of October; and 36 per cent were planning their initial trip sometime between August and October.

Less than 9 per cent of people thought their earliest post-pandemic trip would be in November or December, while less than 7 per cent expected to make their first trip between January and March 2021.

Only 7 per cent predicted their next trip would not be until sometime after April 2021.

“Many travellers are planning to hit the road again this summer and they are willing to share personal medical history and travel plans to help keep themselves and those around them safe,” says Dan Richards, chief executive of Global Rescue, a provider of medical, security, evacuation and travel risk management services.

Respondents also revealed their travel priorities in a post-Covid-19 world, and what their plans were for their first post-lockdown journeys.

Twice as many people plan to take domestic trips, over international, as their first trip.

Nearly 75 per cent of people said their initial trips would be family vacations, leisure trips to visit friends, or destination getaways. Fewer than 10 per cent expected their first trips to be for business only.