Compulsory COVID-19 travel vaccinations would "kill the market"

The rollout of vaccines against COVID-19 has intensified debate about whether they should be made mandatory, with the head of a major tourism lobby saying that doing so would cause irreparable harm to the struggling sector.

“I don’t think governments will require vaccination next year” for travel, Gloria Guevara, head of the World Travel and Tourism Council, said at a press conference Thursday. “If they do that they will kill their sector.”

Those first in line to get the jabs include the elderly and vulnerable, who “are the last people who will travel,” she said.

Instead, rules for virus testing before departure are likely to be bolstered.

Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce ignited an industrywide debate last month when he said proof of vaccination would be a condition for travelers entering or leaving Australia on the carrier’s planes.

So far, no country has made inoculation compulsory or said it would be required for people crossing borders.

Read more: Vaccination to be compulsory for Qantas international flights

The high cost of not flying

Airlines are among the hardest hit by the health crisis, with global airline lobby IATA forecasting combined losses of US$157 billion this year and next.

When the broader tourism sector is added to the tally, the impact rises to US$3.8 trillion, Guevara said.

She was speaking at an event organized by the CommonTrust Network, a Swiss non-profit backed by the World Economic Forum that is rolling out a digital health system called CommonPass designed to certify test results to minimize the risk of fraud.

Tourism-dependent Aruba will start using the system in February to screen visitors, Dangui Oduber, minister for health, tourism and sport, said at the event.

The Caribbean island is running a pilot project with JetBlue for testing, but vaccination won’t be on the agenda for at least the first half of 2021, he said.

Apps and bubbles

The use of digital systems as a way to revive travel has had mixed results so far.

The Rome airport started a corridor with some U.S. destinations this month, but another one planned between Singapore and Hong Kong was postponed until next year amid a resurgence in COVID-19 cases.

In addition to CommonPass, IATA is working on its own mobile app, the Travel Pass, and is planning a test program with British Airways parent IAG this year.

Read more: Airline 'travel pass' app will show COVID test results, vaccination

The AOKpass from travel security firm International SOS is being used on flights between Abu Dhabi and Karachi and Islamabad in Pakistan.

Outside of the airline industry, Stephen Cotton, general secretary of the International Transport Workers’ Federation, said hundreds of thousands of seafarers across the globe are still stranded on ships and unable to return home because of international travel restrictions.

“This humanitarian crisis, which also poses a significant risk to global supply chains, needs to be addressed in part through the introduction of internationally recognized certification of COVID-19 test results and of vaccinations,” he said.