96% UAE travellers confident with digital health passports

The latest study, commissioned by Amadeus and delivered by Censuswide, provides encouraging news for the industry, with 51% of travellers from the UAE keen to book international travel within six weeks of restrictions lifting. The study also demonstrates the importance of understanding traveller concerns around privacy, ease of use and security.

As governments and the travel industry explore the benefits of digital health passports, the message from travellers is clear: digital health passports can be a vital tool in opening up travel. An Amadeus commissioned study has found that that just over 9 in 10 (91%) travellers surveyed globally would be comfortable using a digital health passport for future trips. This encouraging research provides an incentive to accelerate plans for digital health passports that will help to address traveller concerns. The study provided further good news for the industry as just over half of UAE travellers (51%) said they would book international travel within six weeks of restrictions lifting, demonstrating that the appetite to travel remains high.

The survey of 9,055 travellers in France, Spain, Germany, India, UAE, Russia, Singapore, UK and US also contained a note of caution for the industry with over 9 in 10 (93%) travellers having some concerns around storing their health data for travel.

The survey also explored what solutions might alleviate concerns around digital health data and travel in the future and results showed: Almost 3 in 5 (58%) of UAE travellers would be comfortable using a digital passport if it was accepted by most countries and was regulated by international standards, while 47% would be comfortable if only COVID-19-specific data was included in any health passport.  Just under 8 in 10 (78%) would be more likely to store health data on an app where a travel company has partnered with a trusted healthcare company.  52% of UAE travellers said a travel app that could be used across the whole journey would greatly improve their overall travel experience and a similar number (51%) said it would reassure them their information is all in one place. 55% of travellers agree a travel app would reduce their stress around travel.

Ernesto Sanchez Beaumont, Managing Director, Amadeus Gulf, says, “The realities of living alongside COVID-19 will continue to shape the way we travel for some time, just as the pandemic has influenced other areas of daily living. But while there are still uncertainties, this research makes me feel optimistic that we will rebuild travel even better than it was before. Collaboration across governments and our industry is key to restarting travel, but we must also deliver on traveller expectations and work to allay their concerns as outlined in this digital health survey. Travelers in the UAE continue to look to technology to help make their journeys digitally connected, safe and frictionless, and Amadeus is fully committed to playing its part in making this a reality.”

Christophe Bousquet, CTO, Amadeus, comments, “This study highlights once more the key role that technology will play in rebuilding travel. We’ve seen a shift since our last survey, as travellers now place more focus on mobile and touchless technology, crucial areas that will clearly strengthen traveller confidence. It’s also very relevant to see that travellers are open to digital health passports and sharing their data as they move through the journey, once the right safeguards are in place. At Amadeus, we’re committed to rebuilding a better industry, together with our customers and partners.”