Collaborating against COVID-19: bridging travel and travel tech

The distinction between “traditional” travel businesses and travel tech companies has remained steady for years due to knowledge, resource and financial reasons, leading them to operate in separate bubbles. The massive damages caused by COVID-19 for both sides of the industry pose a unique opportunity for them to ditch the old transactional working model, and to seek for more strategic collaborations in order to weather the storm. This viewpoint article discusses the business potential behind such collaborations in the short and long runs—from improving immediate safety perceptions to building technological foundations for the travel industry of tomorrow. It argues that local government mediation is needed for it to succeed, in formats such as funded hackathons or incubation programs that are targeted at addressing COVID-19 and its unique challenges.