Travel and Tourism Stakeholders' call to lift unnecessary travel restrictions.

Article by European Travel Commission - October 19, 2021

With the summer now behind us, Europe is entering a different stage in its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. 74% of EU adults are now fully vaccinated and vaccination efforts are ongoing throughout Europe. Despite the continued spread of the virus at community level, the impact of the pandemic on public health has been brought under control within the EU.

In this context, travel and tourism associations welcome the discussions which are currently taking place between Member States about the revision of Council Recommendations on travel restrictions. Amongst others, the Council is considering updating the criteria behind the colour-coded EU travel restrictions map, to include vaccination and hospitalisation rates and not only the incidence rate.

However, considering that the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC):

• is now acknowledging that EU travel restrictions have not had a significant impact on reducing virus transmission, hospitalisations, or deaths; – and

• is proposing to discontinue the use of the combined indicators and the colour-coded system due to limited public health value, to focus on promoting vaccination amongst travellers;

We are hereby calling for the elimination of this colour-coded system altogether and discontinuation of travel restrictions for all Digital COVID Certificate (DCC) holders, irrespective of their country/area of origin. EU countries should thus move towards a traveller risk-based approach, rather than the country-to-country approach that is currently used.

With a focus on the individual traveller, there is no justification to treat international travel any differently than intra-EU travel. While several Member States have already opened non-EU travel outside of the EU under similar conditions as intra-EU, some continue to discourage non-essential travel to any country that is not on the very limited list of safe countries (Annex I of the Council Recommendation, so-called “White List”). International travel should be made possible with the same conditions as for intra-EU travel: based on vaccination, recovery or a negative COVID-19 test; with quarantine requirements and recommendations against non-essential travel strictly limited to very high incidence or variant areas of concern. On this basis, we also call on Member States to abandon the use of the EU White List.

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Cornell Webinar Recap: Sustainability in the Hospitality Industry: Challenges and Opportunities

Article by Cornell SC Johnson College of Business October 6, 2021

The hospitality industry has been shifting its focus and taking a robust approach when it comes to sustainability. From better managing energy and water consumption to eliminating single-use plastics and food waste, the industry is working toward championing responsible business and tourism.

In an effort to accurately measure their impact and provide transparency to investors, customers, and employees, companies have begun scrutinizing their sustainability practices, moving from symbolic initiatives to those that actually combat climate change.

With the help of technology companies are uncovering their true environmental impact, and quantifying less-tangible indirect emissions that are adversely affecting the planet.

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Research reveals Tourism’s slow recovery is hitting jobs and growth worldwide

Article by WTTC | October 8, 2021

The Travel & Tourism sector’s continued sluggish recovery will see its year-on-year contribution to global GDP rise by less than one third in 2021, according to new research from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC).

• In a slower than expected recovery GDP contribution will only increase by less than one third.

• Nearly 19 million Travel & Tourism jobs in the balance in 2021

• With the right measures, governments could see jobs surpass 2019 levels by 2022.

WTTC, which represents the global Travel & Tourism private sector, says the recovery of the sector has been hampered by the lack of international coordination, severe travel restrictions and slower vaccination rates in some parts of the world which still hamper many regions of the world.

In 2019, the Travel & Tourism sector generated nearly USD 9.2 trillion to the global economy, however in 2020, the pandemic brought Travel & Tourism to an almost complete standstill which resulted in a 49.1% drop, representing a punishing loss of nearly USD$ 4.5 trillion.

While the global economy is set to receive a modest 30.7% year on year increase from Travel & Tourism in 2021, this will only represent USD 1.4 trillion and is mainly driven by domestic spending.

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