A European Travel Commission-led task force has been formed with aim to recover the freedom of movement and look into recommendations for the reopening of tourism in Europe. European Tourism Manifesto- an alliance of more than 60 travel and tourism organizations has disclosed this. Central idea for this is to how to bring back to life travel and tourism in Europe in time for summer 2021 by a sequence of mutual recommendations, one of the main being establishing an EU roadmap to recover travelling safely.
Task Force would provide help in creating and implementing a roadmap and provide evaluations upon the risk based on scientific data. In such a case, the aim would be to consider the scenarios and conditions within which international travel restrictions could be loosened and eventually lifted in Europe and elsewhere. Consequently, the roadmap will need to be updated regularly.
The recommendations given by the European Tourism Manifesto alliance were shared with EU governments. These recommendations ask from the Commission-led Task to monitor the advancement and the effect of vaccination campaigns and quarantine and testing concerning the degree of risk in Europe and worldwide.
“Our goal is for Europe to return to its place as the leading tourist destination in the world – and a safe one. As EU vaccination programmes progress and protect the most vulnerable citizens, we must jointly prepare for the restart of travel. There is simply no time to lose. Our recommendations detail a joint way forward towards restoring travel & tourism and freedom of movement on behalf of European citizens,” declared the European Tourism Manifesto.
The recommendations given to the EU Member States include:
- The creation of an EU Task Force in order to help with the development and creation of a travel restart plan, the recovery of the roadmap, and the reconstruction of people’s free movement.
- Coordination between EU countries in relation to requirements and travel restrictions that could help the restart of travel and tourism and provide foreseeability to tourists, businesses, and workers.
- A unified EU testing scheme for travellers that should include reasonably priced testing, adequate capacity, and recognition of tests between the Member States. Also, the authorization to use antigen and rapid tests for tourism and travel purposes is needed immediately, together with the routine evaluation of the accepted tests.
- The coordination of EU national initiatives should immediately avoid requiring different certificates related to testing, vaccination, and immunity by creating a collaborative European system. This would allow fast digital checks of travellers’ tests and vaccination status. Further, vaccination should not be compulsory to travel. The already vaccinated travellers should not be banned from entering a country, asked for testing, and stay in quarantine. With the latest scientific understanding, vaccinated people have a lower chance of spreading the virus.
According to the press release as soon as the health situation is fully under control, it is very important to restart tourism, recreational activities and the reestablishment of freedom of movement for the citizens of the EU by integrating a coordinated reopening of tourism.
Additionally, “A common list of COVID-19 rapid antigen tests, including those whose test results are mutually recognized, and a common standardized set of data to be included in COVID-19 test result certificates,” was published by the Health Security Committee in February 2021.
European Tourism Manifesto alliance has also launched a COVID-19 awareness campaign tagged #Tourism4Recovery. The campaign is intended to inform on the impacts of the pandemic, while at the same time laying the groundwork for sustainable investment. The plan, which was published last month, emphasizes an unprecedented opportunity to reset travel in Europe and build a more sustainable, resilient, and innovative tourism sector.
Meanwhile, at Monday’s EU Tourism Ministers Meeting, the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) called on leadership from the EU to save the Travel & Tourism sector which has been left in ruin by the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the critical meeting, Gloria Guevara, WTTC President & CEO, said that, “A major issue our sector faces is that different countries have different protocols that are not integrated with one another, and the lack of international coordination. We believe that the key to recovery is to restore international mobility – and we must work together to do so. It is critical that we have a clear roadmap to resume economic activity in a safe and secure way including rapid and cost-effective testing supported by technology through interoperable health digital passes or certificates.
“WTTC believes that while the vaccination rollouts are providing relief to the sector, vaccines should not be a requirement for travel. Instead, we should focus on testing, mandatory mask wearing and enhanced health and hygiene measures to bring certainty and confidence. We must replace ineffective quarantines and move from a country-based assessment to individual based assessment. Not entire populations are infected, and we must not treat them as such. The sector also desperately needs further support from governments around the world. Without it, more businesses will collapse and many more will lose their jobs.”