Ingenious tech innovations paving the way for safer travel

The novel Coronavirus has knocked the wind out of the tourism and hospitality industry. But the sector is resilient and has already come up with inventive technology-led ways to reopen business and cater to grounded travellers.

Observing an increase in queries for places to go on vacation, Google is providing COVID19-specific updates for various destinations,from the start of this week. It will also show trendlines for hotel and flight availabilityand local updates, such as the number of virus infeced cases in that region.

Smartvel, a Spanish travel tech company has harnessed its AI solutions to recently develop a COVID-19 Travel Advisor widget that pulls up travel requirements and policies for any destination where the user is planning to travel.

To restore confidence to the travel industry, the World Economic Forum (WEF) will soon be rolling out CovidPass, an app that that acts as a health passport, using blockchain technology to store users’ blood test details.

COVID-19 has accelerated tech adoption for hotels, airlines, OTAs, and destinations. New protocols likecontactless check-ins and temperature checks, andcontact tracing apps may soon become a part of not just our travel experience but daily lives.