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Expedia Group rolls out Covid-19 Advisor travel restriction tracking tool
Expedia Group has unveiled the Covid-19 Travel Advisor, a new tech-enabled tool that provides travelers with updated information about travel restrictions worldwide.
Powered by sherpa, the Covid-19 Travel Advisor is now part of several Expedia Group consumer brands to simplify the experience for people seeking guidance in destinations they plan to visit, such as quarantine and Covid-19 testing requirements.
Expedia Group saw initial success in its pilot phase, with more than 1.6 million travelers using the Covid-19 Advisor across brands since the winter of 2020, and around 13 million pieces of communication sent to customers via email, push notifications and SMS, with the sherpa link included.
Since July 2020, there have been almost 10 million clicks on travel advisories from across Expedia Group’s core brands and in the month of March 2021 alone, more than 1.7 million clicks, a 97% increase from the prior month.
This points to an increased desire to travel as the industry recovers.
Travelers are increasingly turning to OTAs for trip planning, at nearly 25% more than pre-pandemic levels, according to a recent Expedia Group study.
"Travelers are inundated with conflicting information about where and how they can safely travel as the Covid-19 vaccine rollout continues. This makes it challenging for our travel partners to know how and when to best position themselves online to capture fluctuating demand," said Cyril Ranque, President, Travel Partners Group at Expedia Group."
"We teamed up with sherpa to integrate a solution into our apps, websites, and customer communications. Our goal is to reduce friction for travelers, and also further support our travel partners across lodging, air, car and cruise,"
The Covid-19 Advisor supports the entire traveler journey, whether customers are trying to decide where to travel or have already booked a trip.
Each Expedia Group consumer brand has incorporated the Covid-19 Travel Advisor including Expedia.com, Hotels.com, ebookers, Vrbo, Orbitz, Travelocity, and Wotif.
"Since the pandemic started, our focus has remained firmly on helping our travel partners restore consumer confidence and trust in travel," said Max Tremaine, Co-Founder and CEO, Sherpa.
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