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Many people want to book a trip to their favorite place of summer escape, but are unsure of Covid outbreaks or vaccinations, testing or quarantine requirements.
On Thursday, online shopping company Expedia Group launched COVID-19 Travel Advisor, an online tool that provides information on current travel restrictions to potential and existing customers on seven of the company’s brands.
“Right now, many people are considering booking travel as the launch of the Covid-19 vaccine continues, but at the same time, they are inundated with conflicting information about where and how they can travel safely,” said Stacey Symonds, senior director of experience information about Expedia Group in a statement.
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“It can be difficult to find these details from a reliable source, so we have partnered with Sherpa to seamlessly integrate a solution into our customers’ applications, websites and communications,” she added. “Our goal is to reduce the friction of travelers at a time when they need extra support and empower them to make responsible decisions.”
Expedia Group is partnering with Sherpa, a global provider of travel identification requirements for the tourism industry, to provide the tool. Sherpa technology has also been implemented in similar joint efforts with American Airlines and Caribbean Airlines, the OneWorld airline alliance and the guided vacation company The Travel Corp.
On April 8, 2021, Expedia Group introduced the COVID-19 Travel Advisor, a technology tool that provides consumers with current details about travel restrictions around the world.
Expedia Group
“Travel is essential to our global economy and an important part of the human connection,” said Max Tremaine, co-founder and CEO of Sherpa, in a statement. “Since the pandemic began, our focus has been on helping our travel partners restore consumer confidence and travel confidence.”
A pilot phase of COVID-19 Travel Advisor, which started at the end of November, attracted 1.6 million users and in March alone Expedia Group recorded 1.8 million visits to the tool on all its brands, a leap of 97% since February – which means “many repeated uses as passengers plan different future trips”, according to the company.
Online travel agencies such as Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity and other Expedia Group brands, such as the online vacation rental website Vrbo, have seen an increase in activity, online travel planning by consumers at these sites increasing by almost 25% compared to the pre-pandemic period in a recent study by Expedia Group Media Solutions.
“At Vrbo, we experienced a record demand for vacation rentals in the first few months of the year and we are encouraged to see Expedia Group colleagues on a path to a strong recovery,” said Jeff Hurst, Vrbo president and co-producer of marketing at Expedia Group. stated for CNBC.com. “People are eager to reconnect safely with family, friends and colleagues, but navigating evolving travel restrictions can be difficult.
“With COVID-19 Travel Advisor, we remove the barrier so that passengers can easily access reliable information to unlock the next trip,” he added. “So far, we have seen success with this tool and continue to advance our technology to support the needs of travelers, hosts and industry partners.”
The brands that incorporate Expedia Group’s new COVID-19 travel advisor are Ebookers, Expedia, Hotels.com, Orbitz, Travelocity, Vrbo and Wotif.