Rebooting Customer Experience to Bring Back Travel's Magic: New Skift-McKinsey Research


Skift Take

The Covid-19 pandemic upended life as we know it, and devastated the travel industry globally. As travel volumes are returning in many parts of the world, it will be essential to put renewed focus on customer experience in the months ahead. Travel companies that fail to do so risk being left behind in the recovery.

In 2020, Skift Research partnered with McKinsey & Company and created a report “Travel Industry Turned Upside Down: Insights, Analysis, and Actions for Travel Executives” to document the unprecedented impact of Covid-19 on the global travel sector.

In Partnership with McKinsey & Company

One year later, we find that the travel sector is bouncing back, yet recovery still has a long way to go. As travel volumes are returning in many parts of the world, customer experience (CX) is emerging as the core challenge of the recovery. The prolonged battle has resulted in severe shocks to travel services across all sectors and regions. Operational capacity is strained, staffing challenges are widespread, airline complaints are up, rental cars are hard to come by, and hotel amenities and services remain substantially pared down.

Travel companies are still absorbing Covid-19’s financial impact, and investing in CX now may seem too great a burden for many of them. But wise investment in CX may be key to the industry’s survival, and flourishing, in a post-pandemic world.

It is within this context that Skift Research and McKinsey & Company are partnering again to produce our second report, focusing entirely on assessing the current state of travel experience and providing recommendations and action plans for coming out of the pandemic stronger through renewed focus on customer experience.

What You'll Learn From This Report

  • Current state of travel experience and satisfaction
  • Changing traveler needs and expectations in the post-Covid world
  • Three Strategies to transform CX
  • Action items and case studies for executing CX transformation

You can access the report, created in partnership with McKinsey & Company, by filling out the form below. 

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