Travel and tourism industry around the world is seeing Omicron as a bolt from the blue. When after two years of turbulence, things finally looked getting better the emergence of new COVID strain and subsequent travel restrictions by governments one after the another has spelled nothing short of disaster. More so because, it has come right before the year-end vacations.
That is the reason that industry is requesting governments to be cautious but not get into panic mode. It is against this knee jerk reaction from countries of closing borders again.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has also warned that the imposition of travel bans by governments, against the advice of the WHO, could threaten the sector’s recovery.
Julia Simpson, WTTC President & CEO, said: “WTTC supports the World Health Organization (WHO) position in calling for borders to remain open and safe travel to continue.
“Closing borders will not prevent the spread of new variants. The latest variant is increasingly being detected in countries around the world. The way to keep safe is to focus on the vaccination status of individual travellers rather than placing whole countries onto red lists.
“Rather than stigmatising countries such as South Africa, which rely heavily on a strong Travel & Tourism, we should be applauding them for identifying this new variant so quickly.
“Until we fully understand this new variant we must focus on prioritising the world distribution of vaccines while adopting sensible measures such as wearing masks.’
IATA’s Director General Willie Walsh said in his comments that, “The lifting of the US restrictions on travel from some 33 countries last month raised hopes that a surge in pent-up travel demand would buoy traffic over the coming Northern Hemisphere winter. But the emergence of the Omicron variant panicked many governments into once again restricting or entirely removing the freedom to travel—even though WHO clearly advised that ‘blanket travel bans will not prevent the international spread, and they place a heavy burden on lives and livelihoods.’
“The logic of the WHO advice was evident within days of Omicron’s identification in South Africa, with its presence already confirmed in all continents. The ill-advised travel bans are as ineffective as closing the barn door after the horse has bolted,” said Walsh.