Up until late January Terry O’Toole was fielding a trickle of enquiries from Irish holidaymakers happy to settle for another summer at home in one of the cottages he manages in the scenic west coast region of Connemara. But when a government minister said on radio that it was very unlikely Irish people will be able to go on foreign holidays this summer, “the trickle became a torrent”. Skis are seen in the Romme alpine ski resort near Borlange, Sweden February 6, 2021. REUTERS/Simon Johnson From Connemara cottages to Berlin houseboats, Sweden’s ski slopes to UK activity parks, holiday accommodation is being snapped up by cautious domestic tourists already resigned to another staycation summer, amid fears of foreign travel bans and quarantines. Availability is very tight, said O...
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The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has called for governments to abandon the concept of ‘high-risk countries’ and instead focus on how individual ‘high-risk travellers’ are treated at borders. WTTC, which represents the global Travel & Tourism private sector, is urging governments around the world to shift their focus from whole countries, towards individual travellers. Instead, WTTC says governments around the world should redefine their whole approach to risk assessment, to revive international business and leisure travel. Combined with a common international consensus on the metrics used to assess risk and a laser-like focus on a cost-effective, comprehensive, and rapid departure and arrival testing scheme for all travellers, could pave the way forward for t...
Read MoreIt was definitely not what the Indian travel and tourism industry has been expecting. Budget 2021-22 has come as a rude shock for an industry, which has faced the most severe brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic in the last one year. Global tourism suffered its worst year on record in 2020, with international arrivals dropping by 74% according to the latest data from the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). Destinations worldwide welcomed 1 billion fewer international arrivals in 2020 than in the previous year, due to an unprecedented fall in demand and widespread travel restrictions. This collapse in international travel represented an estimated loss of USD 1.3 trillion in export revenues - more than 11 times the loss recorded during the 2009 global economic crisis. The crisis has put betwee...
Read MoreThe International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced full-year global passenger traffic results for 2020 showing that demand (revenue passenger kilometers or RPKs) fell by 65.9% compared to the full year of 2019, by far the sharpest traffic decline in aviation history. Furthermore, forward bookings have been falling sharply since late December. Similarly, data for global air freight markets show that demand for air cargo decreased by 10.6% in 2020, compared to 2019. This was the largest drop in year-on-year demand since IATA started to monitor cargo performance in 1990, outpacing the 6% fall in global trade in goods. International passenger demand in 2020 was 75.6% below 2019 levels. Capacity, (measured in available seat kilometers or ASKs) declined 68.1% and load factor fe...
Read MoreBusiness travel spending is forecast to grow 21% this year worldwide, helped by the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, but will not recover to pre-pandemic levels until the middle of the decade, a business travel association said on Tuesday. Spending on business travel is projected to rise to $842 billion in 2021, according to the Global Business Travel Association’s (GBTA) BTI Outlook, after dropping 52% in 2020 to $694 billion due to the pandemic. FILE PHOTO: Travellers wearing face masks line up at check-in counters of Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport in Shanghai, China January 28, 2021. REUTERS/Aly Song After a decade of steady annual growth, business travel is expected to have shown losses in 2020 that were 10 times greater than the declines after the Sept. 11, 2001, attac...
Read MoreThe International Air Transport Association (IATA) has called on governments to partner with the air transport industry to devise plans to safely re-link people, business and economies when the COVID-19 epidemiological situation permits. A priority for this critical cooperation is acceleration of the establishment of global standards for vaccination and testing certification. “We can see the light at the end of the tunnel as vaccination programs roll out. Turning this vision into a safe and orderly re-start will require careful planning and coordination by governments and industry. This will be challenging as the priority for the weeks and months ahead will be containing the spread of new variants. But even as the crisis deepens, it is important to prepare the way for a resumption of f...
Read MoreThe World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), have released major guidelines focusing on how private sector organisations may seek to implement health and hygiene protocols throughout their organisations and thereby improve public confidence in the Travel & Tourism sector. The guidelines are a follow up to the health and safety protocols WTTC released in 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and following the signing of a memorandum of collaboration with IOSH. The Safe Travels protocols were designed to rebuild confidence among consumers so they may travel safely once restrictions are lifted. They provide consistency to destinations and countries as well as guidance to travellers about the approach to health and hyg...
Read MoreThe Global Tourism Crisis Committee has met for the first time in 2021. Organized by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the cross-sector body met in Madrid during the 113th session of the UNWTO Executive Council to advance solid plans to restart tourism. The meeting focused on the integration of vaccines into a harmonized approach to safe travel and launching a coordinated effort to boost confidence in the sector. With countries around the world now rolling out vaccines against the COVID-19 virus, the Committee noted that this opens a critical window in the fight against the pandemic and to promote the safe resumption of international travel. Members highlighted the importance of stepping up coordination, within the framework of the International Health Regulations, of vaccination...
Read MoreWhat industry needs is a strong summer of travel More than 100 million jobs could return to the global Travel & Tourism sector during 2021, as the world recovers from the crippling COVID-19 pandemic, says the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC). A strong summer of travel is expected as the sector begins its road to recovery from late March onwards, with many major travel companies reporting a significant rise in forward bookings. The sector’s revival is backed by WTTC’s latest economic forecast, which gives further hope for the year ahead to businesses and millions of people employed in the sector worldwide. Last year, during the height of the pandemic, WTTC warned 174 million global Travel & Tourism jobs were at risk. However, in its latest analysis, WTTC’s ...
Read MoreThe International Air Transport Association (IATA) is partnering with Emirates and Etihad Airways, the two flag carriers of the UAE to become the first airlines in the world to trial IATA Travel Pass – a mobile app to help passengers easily and securely manage their travel in line with any government requirements for COVID-19 testing or vaccine information. IATA Travel Pass enables Emirates and Etihad Airways passengers to create a ‘digital passport’ to verify their pre-travel test or vaccination meets the requirements of the destination. They will also be able to share the test and vaccination certificates with authorities and airlines to facilitate travel. The new app will also enable travellers to manage all travel documentation digitally and seamlessly throughout the travel experie...
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