Mandatory Covid vaccines for travel would kill the sector-WTTC

Tourism body has opposed the move to made Covid vaccination mandatory for tourists. 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(WTTC), said at a press conference . “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.

Alan Joyce, the chief executive officer of Qantas Airways Ltd., ignited an industrywide debate 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. Airlines are among the hardest hit by the health crisis, with global airline lobby IATA forecasting combined losses of $157 billion this year and next. When the broader tourism sector is added to the tally, the impact rises to $3.8 trillion, Guevara said.

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.