A BETA way to support inbound travellers
Guidance for returning travellers undertaking mandatory hotel quarantine

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, for the many thousands of international travellers returning to Australia every week their first look outside of the airport is inside a hotel. 

14 days in a hotel room may be welcomed by some as a rare opportunity to catch up on life admin, watch the TV series they hadn’t had time for, or a spare moment to practice a new hobby. Good-intentions and a positive attitude aside, two weeks contained inside the same four walls – sometimes without access to a breath of fresh air – can be a daunting and challenging experience for anyone. 

Folk worked with the Behavioural Economics Team of the Australian Government (BETA) to create guidance to help and support inbound travellers to psychologically and practically plan, prepare, and pack for their time in quarantine. 

Being experts in the rigorous evaluation of behavioural insights, BETA ran user-testing sessions to ensure the content was clear and easy to understand.  

Folk applied behavioural insights to the design of the guidance, ensuring it was easy for people to navigate and engage with without feeling overwhelmed. They needed to effectively inform a traveller about what to expect, and provide actionable and trustworthy guidance to properly manage their time, space, health and wellbeing while undertaking quarantine. 

Following the successful launch of the guidance with more than 55,500 downloads at October 2021, BETA engaged Folk in the development of quarantine guidance specially tailored to communicate with inbound workers from the Pacific Islands and translated from English into four different languages.  

We’re proud to have supported BETA in helping improve the wellbeing of people enduring hotel quarantine, and aiding national efforts to keep Australia safe.