The last few months have been a whirlwind – professionally, personally and emotionally – for everyone all over the globe, doing what we can to keep safe while caring for our loved ones has been most people’s number one priority.

The year 2020 will undoubtedly mark a ‘before and after’ in the timeline of our lives.

As we contemplate how the travel industry can recover from COVID-19, there is one thought that buoys my optimism: calamity is often followed by collaboration and social cohesion. Sociologists have observed this time and again in studies focused on communities coping with unexpected tragedies. We’ve seen it during COVID-19, too. Heart-warming stories of people coming together to help each other through the health crisis have been reported all over the globe.

There is no doubt that the travel industry will forever be changed by the events of this year. But in the wake of disaster, I am optimistic that we will emerge more united than ever before. We have many questions to answer: How can we recover and renew the travel industry in a way that was better than before? How can we reignite traveler confidence, trust, and desire for the experiences that only travel can provide? And how can we adapt to the next normal? These are questions that no single person or company can answer.

Over the next few months Amadeus will be collaborating with our customers, partners and the travel industry’s movers and shakers to rethink the future of travel. There’s an opportunity perhaps not to just rebuild the travel industry, but to re-build it better. Here are just some of the things we’re thinking about to get the conversation started:

1. How can we boost traveler confidence and trust?

Traveler confidence and trust requires a deep understanding of travelers’ desires and needs at all stages of their journey so that we may exceed their expectations every time.

Once we understand how traveler habits and expectations might be changing, we as an industry can adapt. New products and packages may need to be developed to offer travelers greater choice, flexibility and stress-free customer service. For example, we expect increasing low-touch experiences both at airports and hotels, by enabling travelers to handle airport processes remotely using their mobile phones. Biometric passenger touchpoints may also gain greater acceptance. Whether shopping, booking, traveling or in-destination, travelers will want the latest information and access to on-demand customer support, as well as improved hygiene measures for their safety.

2. How can we as an industry emerge stronger than ever before?

If we must rethink the future of travel, it’s worth asking ourselves how we can rebuild in a way that was better than before. The travel industry has always been a global driver of economic growth. Now is the time to unite and find new ways to overcome silos so that we can maximize the contribution of travel to the economic, social, and cultural well-being of our world. How can we form new partnerships and collaborations not just within the travel industry, but across public and private sectors as well?

The tourism sector is uniquely placed to lead the response to the climate emergency and ensure sustainable growth. The European Green Deal aims to make Europe the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050, and tourism has a fundamental role to play in this. By working together in travel as a global community, we can create a more sustainable sector, one that supports local communities and small businesses, avoids over-tourism, and takes care of our planet.

3. How can the travel industry design the next normal?

As we face the challenges of today and look to the future, technology and innovation will be a powerful enabler of change. Sitting at the heart of the travel ecosystem, we are committed to supporting our customers to reconnect with travelers, to bring back the joy of travel and to ensure that it continues to be a major driver of global progress and prosperity.

Modern technology is giving the travel industry the opportunity to evolve at a pace that was never possible just a few decades ago. Flexible, scalable and cloud-enabled tools coupled with agile working practices allow companies to develop new innovations quickly without investing in the time-consuming reconfiguration of legacy systems. Data-led artificial intelligence and machine learning can speed up operational and commercial readiness, reshaping the field of revenue management for instance, at an unprecedented pace.

Now more than ever before, our creativity knows few bounds. If the travel industry can dream it up, chances are we can also bring it to life – especially if we work together.

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These are some of the questions that we are asking ourselves at Amadeus, and some of the conversations we are already having with our industry partners to rethink the future of travel.

And as we look into the future, it’s worth reflecting a bit on some wisdom from the past. In 1975, after the Great Alaska Earthquake, the founders of the Disaster Research Center in the United States considered why they continued to observe the same scenario repeating itself from one disaster to the next: why is it that catastrophes bring out the best in people?

When “danger, loss and suffering become a public phenomenon,” they wrote, “all those who share in the experience are brought together in a very powerful psychological sense”.

There is no doubt that many people and businesses have suffered incredible loss over the last few months. One silver lining is that to some extent, this has been a shared experience. If today it is our vulnerability that connects us, let it be our strength, unity and innovative spirit that lifts us into the future.

Follow our conversation on this topic: amadeus.com/rethinktravel

Daniel Batchelor is Vice President, Global Corporate Communications, Amadeus