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Despite the slow recovery of the travel and tourism industry in mid-2021 owing to travel restrictions and uneven vaccine rollout globally, the surge in travel activity in 2022 has taken the industry by surprise, exceeding the conservative recovery projections. With the initial trends in the last few months, it is evident that global travel will continue to be on the rise in 2023. Here are some trends to keep an eye out for around travel this year:
After the pandemic, 2022 saw a return to normalcy in the tourism sector, with international tourism recovering to 63% of pre-pandemic levels.
According to the most recent UN World Tourism Barometer, 900 million tourists travelled internationally in 2022, which is double those in 2021.
The pandemic has continued to be volatile in some regions of the world even as embassies began receiving a flood of visa requests from tourists, business travellers, and students, among others. The operations of visa outsourcing firms remain nimble and adaptable. Our teams across the world were well prepared to handle this surge of "revenge travel." However, there were certain difficulties for visa applications due to the vastly increased demand. As a result, there were fewer visa appointments available and longer wait times for visa decisions, which became a major reason for the shift in travel peak seasons. Given the trend, it's safe to say that 2023 will continue to witness a high travel demand in off-seasons.
Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analytics will fundamentally change border management, enabling Smart Borders a few years from now. However, the adoption of these technologies is currently relatively limited.
These emerging technologies would enhance border officials' judgment through AI-enabled intelligence in analysing biometric markers such as facial recognition. Next in line, data analytics can help detect suspicious profiles by analysing various data points that passenger submits, right from booking an air ticket to applying for a visa and subsequent transit interface.
While digital technology has made our travel journeys convenient, it has its fair share of risks. Given the rapid rate at which businesses have had to modernise their services by going the digital route, combined with the large amount of personal data now being accumulated, the risk of data breaches and their impact has severely increased. VFS Global, for instance, complies with various data localisation, privacy, and protection laws, including the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
While 2022 did bring back a sense of normalcy in our lives, people have understood the importance of health and well-being. More and more people today are choosing wellness-based getaways and self-healing journeys. People are willing to set aside one vacation each year that is solely for their mental health and well-being. In 2023, travel will see a spike in activities that encourage the improvement of a person's overall well-being, from wellness cruises to hiking trips and yoga retreats.
VFS Global has introduced services such as Digital Document Check (DDC) which enables customers to verify documents before visiting a visa application centre, thereby streamlining, and shortening the in-person experience.
Similarly, VFS Global's Visa At Your Doorstep (VAYD) service provides customers with an end-to-end visa submission facility at a location of their choice. The popular service which can now be booked through WhatsApp in some markets has witnessed a strong demand ever since travel resumed in 2022.
Post-pandemic, the world is also moving to an era where many travellers are making conscious decisions to reduce travel emissions and carbon footprints, support local communities, save water and energy, or even seek eco-friendly accommodations. The recent rise in eco-conscious travellers who seek to travel sustainably is also changing how businesses and locations are operating now from their 'business as usual' attributes to looking to transform journeys by offering meaningful experiences.
Digitisation of the tourism industry is not just limited to bookings or the use of the internet to search for locations and flights but to the entire experience itself, with every step being modified adding convenience for travellers Seeing the rise in demand for e-visa solutions, Governments and other stakeholders will continue to seek and develop new technologies that will enable a smoother international journey and boost cross-border mobility.
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