Customer Experience Customer Service Customer Service Strategy Travel and Hospitality

How to Navigate Customer Experience (CX) as Travelers Re-Emerge to Explore Destinations

Updated on: August 24, 2026

Travelers are on the road again, yet not everything is completely back to normal just yet. People are still concerned about COVID-19, for themselves and for others. A myriad of supply issues may keep some potential adventurers sticking closer to home, but the industry is coming to life again.

Collage pile up of travel accessories, including a map, camera, shoes, and sunglasses

Shutterstock; Photo by I am Kulz

Experts predict summer travel spending is expected to shatter records, as travel confidence rises.

Here’s the good news:

Over 77% of Americans plan to travel for leisure in the next three months, with 90% planning an overnight stay.

Millennials are taking the most trips, and likely deciding between multiple destinations.

Trip Advisor surveyed travelers across the world who say they will be more likely to travel internationally once vaccinated, while 70% of visitors searching for hotels on the site were booking future domestic trips through the fall.

However, some potential travelers still express concern about personal safety, the safety of others and unease around reports of new variants of the virus.

What does this mean for your business? It’s time to get in the game. Keep a close eye on travel trends and insights, staff accordingly and ensure you have the right people for the job.

Here’s a breakdown:

Scalability
Scalability is certainly an issue in many industries, from airline and hotel staffing shortages to availability of rental cars. Thankfully, customer experience agents are poised and ready to help walk those customers through their concerns so they may escape to those well-deserved vacations.

Flexible Approach
Using a flexible approach with your business will help save a lot of hassle. Stay on top of trends in your industry so you can pivot accordingly. Destination Analysts surveyed more than 1,200 travelers, and three quarters of those who participated will take at least one vacation or getaway over the summer months. That’s an increase of three times the number of travelers as last year at this time, according to TSA.

Quality Agents
The key element to successfully managing this potentially heavy increase in travel is securing a quality team of agents who are both knowledgeable and empathetic. Spend the time and money to train your agents to handle the issues of post-pandemic travel, as great care will be required to assuage doubts around safety. It’s crucial to reconnect with customers in a positive way.

It’s a new world out there, and many travelers are ready to go explore it. Review your customer experience strategy and staffing and adapt accordingly. Get back in the driver’s seat, so you are ready to support whatever comes your way with the right agents who know how to help and support those ever-important consumers.