(CNN) – There is hope: Summer vacation abroad may go on in a big way this year, with the number of people leaving their countries to start to rise this spring and increase by the middle of the year, travel industry experts say, as vaccines and risk-based safety measures are rolled out more widely and coronavirus cases around the world are starting to decline again. “I’m actually pretty confident that from May 1 … we’ll all be in a much better world,” said Paul Charles, founder and CEO of London-based travel consultancy The PC Agency. Vaccines and testing are the way forward, according to Charles and other industry experts, but what is perhaps also desperately needed is greater consistency and coordination across borders. ” do not have a coordinated global approach, it is very difficult for the industry to move forward, especially when the rules of the game change almost every day ”, said Luis Felipe de Oliveira, CEO of the Airports Council Internationa l (ACI), a global trade organization representing airports around the world, there is still a long way to go to iron out testing protocols that would allow globetrotters to step out of quarantines and find ways to share smoothly and securely. securely immunization and testing information across borders Sovereign nations still decide what is best for them individually, looking at their own health situation and environment. onomy, but progress has been made in getting countries to look more holistically at the enormous economic force that travel represents. (UNWTO, ICAO, ACI, WTTC, airlines, etc.) have collaborated on many sets of global guidelines and recommendations aimed at making travel safer, easier and less confusing for a world of consumers in need of a change of scenery. said the summer rebound could mean international air traffic will hit 50% to 60% of previous levels in most countries. s and the industry will need to recover as travel resumes: Elimination of quarantines Mandatory – and changing – quarantine requirements “are essentially destroying the process of restarting the industry,” de Oliveira said. on day 12 of a 14-day quarantine in Montreal after returning from a business trip to the Dominican Republic followed by a personal trip to Mexico. He’s quarantined four times in the past seven months, spending 56 days at home with no possibility of going out. That kind of time investment, along with the confusion around the requirements – to go and return home – are big dissuasive for people who might otherwise be willing to travel. Security is key, but industry players are arguing for a more nuanced and layered approach. A testing mechanism is needed to avoid quarantines, says Tori Emerson Barnes, executive vice president of public affairs and policy at the nonprofit National US Travel Association. , who advocated a science-based, risk-based approach to reopening international travel “especially looking at eliminating quarantines if you have the right testing protocol in place.” While vaccines will be essential, Oliveira and others say the travel industry absolutely cannot afford to wait to speed up until vaccinations are fully administered globally, making it testing a critical part of the equation for safer travel in the short term. Barnes mentioned a two-tier testing regime 72 hours before departure and again arrival as a possible standard, and she cited a pilot program of test in Hawaii – where a 10-day quarantine can be bypassed on most islands with negative ults tests – as an example of where testing outside of quarantine has generated demand: while US Travel reportedly encourages people to check out to get vaccinated and to do tests in places requiring quarantines, the association is not looking for general requirements for access, Barnes said. “We wouldn’t say you have to have a vaccine to travel.” She recognizes that determining who is responsible for creating and implementing consistent protocols is a challenge. “The government doesn’t necessarily want it,” she said, “and I don’t know if the private sector should have that responsibility.” Yet countries and organizations around the world are making progress in coordinating common approaches, says Alessandra Priante, regional director for Europe at the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), a specialized agency of the United Nations. test is already being implemented in many cases, and the next step globally is to plot, says Priante, “to make sure we are able to share a certain amount of data, because if we don’t share data, we’re not really in a position to have all the information we should have. “Getting vaccinated … and proving it from that information would probably be about vaccinations. The UK vaccination program is well under way. Other countries have made significant progress as well, and the U.S. agenda is slowly picking up steam. Confusion among travelers may also intensify as more people begin to move in the spring and additional requirements enter. at stake for negative tests and proof of vaccination. Australia, for example, has just announced that it will require negative Covid PCR tests for all travelers, and the Qantas airline has suggested that all international passengers may soon be required to have a vaccination certificate. will need a globally harmonized approach to recognize and current practices – involving printed materials from unknown laboratories in languages which may not be familiar to those who inspect them or a tangle of unconnected databases across the world – are far from ideal. why ACI supports the use of health apps such as CommonPass, a tool that would allow travelers to share lab results and re-immunization cords without revealing other personal health information. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is also working on a digital Travel Pass platform: even when vaccines are widely available, not everyone will take them, and researchers are investigating whether the virus could still be transmitted. by vaccinated people. Masking, social distancing, sanitation and other layers of security will still be a part of everyday life – and travel – for a long time to come. Measures in the meantime Fluid international travel will not happen overnight. While we wait for the coronavirus to drop and more global coordination around safer, less confusing cross-border travel, destinations and businesses are increasingly deploying their own interim solutions Delta Air Lines is testing a handful of non-quarantine flights tested by Covid to the Netherlands. These flights use a combination of benchmark PCR testing and rapid pre-board antigen testing. Oliveira sees rapid antigen testing as a potential aid to industry recovery. Although considered less accurate, antigen testing is also much faster and less expensive than molecular testing as a layer of risk management. Iceland and Hungary have adopted the concept of ‘immunity passports’, allowing people who have already been infected with Covid-19 to enter. Travel bubbles, like a much-anticipated two-way corridor between New Zealand and Australia, allow people to travel between countries without being quarantined. Unfortunately, like most things related to Covid, these metrics are subject to change. “Hallways can be helpful if they’re consistent, but again, they’ve been up and down, opening and closing short term and it hasn’t helped consumers at all,” Paul said. Charles, the travel industry consultant. : Mingling with strangers The UNWTO Prayer hopes that the ups and downs will stabilize soon because the world is missing. “What I regret most is that all about tourism is trusting the unknown … you have to explore, meet someone you’ve never met before. ‘another culture, from another nation, is sort of on hold and at stake because people tell us’ don’t trust anybody, cross the sidewalk, wear your mask, don’t’ meddle ” , she said from her home in Madrid. And while Priante and her colleagues have taken all necessary precautions and have continued to travel and work to address the global crisis that threatens livelihoods in the industry, she wishes to see more people travel. “We want to bring the spirit of tourism back to the hearts of people. Because tourism is about building memories … and we want to come back to it, we want to become the industry of beautiful memories again. “.
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