Travel
The aviation industry is not only extremely sensitive to external factors, but also highly integrated/intertwined as a network. As such, they are subject to the weakest link and are only as safe as their safest location, airport, competitor etc. Duty of care has also become increasingly important and buying behaviours have changed. Price may no longer be the driving factor for booking travel as there is more consideration for the perception of safety. People will likely be using the “regret minimization framework” whereby they will need to consider the lowest risk way to get them where they need to go (rather than the fastest, cheapest, most convenient option). Companies in the industry looking to encourage travel may need to offer discounts and rethink their cancellation policies as means to incentivize. When travel does pick up again, it’s likely that leisure travel will rebound before corporate travel.
Economy
In addition to the pandemic, some industries like oil and gas, were already facing challenges of their own. While no one will be “quick” to recover, essential services did not experience as drastic of a drop when compared to others. The immediate impact of the pandemic may not have been as significant in these industries but will continue to lag as capital spend has been deferred or cancelled. The technology fields have been quicker to adapt. General recovery has been predicted to return by half, followed by a slower recovery to get back to pre-pandemic indicators. Again, perception of risk is the biggest hurdle and governments need to continue communication, lead the charge, and be prescriptive as needed. Governments may also want to consider incentives/rebates for businesses to implement technology to make themselves more robust.
Technology
There has been an increase in direct to customer technology, resulting in the interruption and bypassing of the traditional supply chain (think food delivery services). Other changes include infrastructure, autonomous vehicles, robotics, distance learning, and telehealth have also seen an uptick. Yet, one of the biggest impacts that technology can have on this pandemic, again is the need for access to rapid and reliable testing. Testing immediately pre-travel increases duty of care. Appropriate disinfecting processes like ionization cabins that can process 750 people/hour can greatly impact the speed at which we return to normal. While many were able to work from home, there was a realization that some companies were slower to adopt remote work and needed to act quickly in order to get their teams set up. However, with this increased connectivity it may be more difficult for workers to disconnect and set boundaries.
Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer
Vincent Campana leads our commercial team and is responsible for driving sales, market growth, geographic expansion and the overall scale of the LodgeLink business. He is a successful and proven leader in both sales and customer management and brings a wealth of expertise from over 25 years of experience in the global travel industry and the .com industry. Vincent is highly connected with many suppliers across hotels, airlines and car rental categories in addition to corporate customers across the world. He is a graduate of Wagner College in New York.
Founder, Dunleavy Consulting
Dr. Hugh Dunleavy is a seasoned senior executive with more than twenty-five years of airline industry experience in N. America, Europe, Middle-East and Asia. During his career, he has held senior management positions at Qatar Airways, Malaysia Airlines, WestJet Airlines, Lufthansa Systems, Star Alliance, Air Canada and PROS Revenue Managemen. He has also been a guest lecturer at MIT and Columbia Universities in the United States. Hugh has a PhD in Theoretical Physics with an undergraduate degree in Physics from Sheffield University in the U.K.
Vice President, Policy & Chief Economist Business Council of Alberta
Michael Holden is the Vice President of Policy and Chief Economist at the Business Council of Alberta. Michael brings more than 20 years of experience as an economist and public policy analyst to his role. Prior to joining BCA, he was the Chief Economist for Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters where he led the organization's economic analysis and played a key role in directing policy research and setting CME's government advocacy agenda. He has a B.A. in honours economics from the University of Alberta and an M.A. in economics from Queen's University
Entrepreneur in Residence Bow Valley College
Craig Elias is the Entrepreneur in Residence at Bow Valley College and works with learners and business owners through the Entrepreneur Centre in Strathmore, Alberta. His first company won a $1,000,000 prize in the Global Billion Dollar Idea competition and was twice named by Dow Jones as one of the 50 most promising companies in North America.He holds an Executive MBA from the University of Calgary specializing in New Venture Creation and Technology Commercialization and a cross-disciplinary B.A. from Western University.
