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Skift Take
The new Covid variant is an enormous setback for an industry that seemingly can’t catch a break, and it kills any chance of a complete recovery soon — especially as 98 percent of destinations worldwide still have some sort of travel restrictions.
The United Nations World Tourism Organization is calling on countries worldwide to make immediate, uniform decisions regarding travel restrictions linked to a new Covid variant first detected in southern Africa.
UNWTO Secretary-General-General Zurab Pololikashvili said on Friday that while countries have to follow World Health Organization recommendations in forming travel rules and consistent safety and hygiene protocols, he said time is of the essence in combating the new variant.
“My recommendation will be to (make) decisions today, not after one week, because if it continues to spread as we are expecting then it will be late and will make no sense to apply restrictions,” Pololikashvili said.
The new variant has spurred the United Kingdom and Singapore to ban flights from South Africa and neighboring countries. Meanwhile, the European Union has proposed suspending all air travel from countries seriously affected by the variant, which Susan Hopkins, the chief medical advisor to the UK Health and Security Agency, described as the worst it’s seen.
Pololikashvili also pushed for Europe to take the lead in introducing a consistent policy as he said the continent — the most visited worldwide — was the most prepared in regards to sanitary infrastructure. He cited the European Union’s Covid green pass as an successful example of a joint policy.
The recently released UNWTO Travel Restrictions Report reveals that 98 percent of all destinations still have some sort of travel curbs in place while roughly one in five — 46 destinations — currently have closed their borders completely to tourists. Only four destinations thus far — Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and Mexico — have completely removed all Covid-related restrictions.
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