How to avoid international travel restrictions ruining your trip

Planning an overseas adventure is always exciting – but while the world continues to reopen, travel is far more difficult than in those easy pre-pandemic days thanks to a  raft of documents, checks and authorisations needed to ensure safety and compliance with local rules.

Those lurking pitfalls range from required or recommended vaccinations and pre-departure tests to digital passenger declarations, travel passes and visas.

It’s clearly never been more important to be fully informed before making your travel plans and locking in those flights, cruises and hotel stays, but that in itself can be a complex task.

To take the headache and hassle out of your planning, there are several online resources which draw on global data streams to accurately inform travellers of up-to-the-minute rules for every country around the world.

Here are two of the biggest and most trusted information sources available today.

Head through the airport knowing you've done your research.

IATA TravelCentre

You may have seen the IATA name before, either on your airline ticket or in the window of your local travel agency. It stands for the International Air Transport Association, which regulates airlines all over the world and supports the development of global standards.

IATA Travel Centre is a global destination database which draws on data from its wholly-owned Timatic system

 When you check in for your international flight, Timatic is the system which ensures your travel documentation meets government entry requirements for your destination and allows you to get on the plane.

Countries are colour-coded based on current travel restrictions.

In 2019, over 700 million checks were performed to help travellers everywhere get where they wanted to go.

Information is based on your country of departure, destination, intended travel dates and importantly, how restrictions relate to the passport you will be travelling with.

Even if you reside elsewhere, passport holders from certain countries may have more restrictions on them, even if you don’t ordinarily reside there.

Click on a country and the most up-to-date rules are displayed.

Timatic data is used in the IATA Travel Pass app, a fairly simple app which lets you check entry requirements for your destination, locate a nearby lab if you need a negative test result prior to flying, and to upload your vaccination certificates.

Over 200 rule changes are processed and verified every day. Updates are performed manually after being checked and validated from over 2,000 government and airline sources.

Sherpa

Another major resource is Sherpa – a privately-owned Canadian outfit founded in 2015 which has built a more interactive and user-friendly platform to provide the information travellers need to ensure their trips proceed smoothly. 

The company says it aims to simplify travel identification and to help travel providers move their customers to their destinations as efficiently as possible in the current travel environment.

Sherpa's map is a lot more colourful and user-friendly.

Sherpa utilises a universal connection which it licences to airlines and online travel booking websites such as Expedia which allow users of those websites to learn about entry requirements and travel rules prior to making their bookings.

Users can tailor information based on the country of their passport and individual vaccination status. The Sherpa website also provides direct links or access to download official documents sourced from government websites should you need any more information or proof from an official source. 

There’s a handy FAQ section and links to government websites where travel intentions can be registered, and information submitted to expedite your border clearance if needed.

Sherpa lets you input your trip details for personalised advice.

The company lists many of the world’s biggest airlines and travel retailers as partners plugged into its data including American Airlines, British Airways, Star Alliance and Expedia.

While it doesn’t quite have the reach of IATA Travel Centre, it is still a highly robust portal, connected to more than 60 government systems to ensure changes are quickly and accurately conveyed to users.

Sherpa also aims to avoid industry jargon to ensure it speaks to travellers in a language they can understand.

Know before you go

While a quick Google search will present you with tens of thousands, maybe millions or websites and pages which claim to have the most accurate information, using IATA Travel Centre or Sherpa will deliver just one result which can be relied upon.

A more prudent search will help you weed out the posers and ensure your trip goes off without a hitch.