Launching safe travel guidelines in response to Covid-19
Travel and tourism organisations are collaborating to produce guidelines to help encourage safer travel
Following the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) releasing its safe flight guidance in early June, the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has unveiled its new guidelines for Safe & Seamless Travel for the entire traveller experience, including testing, tracing, receipt of a traveller test/vaccination certificates, air travel, and Covid-19-specific traveller health insurance. This all part of the WTTC’s Safe and Seamless Traveller Journey initiative.
The WTTC’s guidelines were created in collaboration with WTTC Members, health experts and government officials, and according to the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance, as well as ICAO’s Council Aviation Recovery Task Force take-off guidance. The WTTC produced the report in partnership with global management consultants Oliver Wyman.
Gloria Guevara, WTTC President & CEO, commented: “The new WTTC guidelines mean that we can now replace the confusing mix of different measures including highly damaging quarantines, which currently exist, to offer confidence to travellers and governments alike while protecting public health.
“Travel ‘bubbles’ or ‘corridors’ between low-risk Covid-19 areas/zones or countries will also help limit testing requirements for travellers and support efforts by governments and private businesses working in partnership together to stimulate traveller demand.”
In the US, the Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA), a membership-based organisation specialising in sustainable adventure travel, has released health and safety guidelines for adventure activities.
The COVID-19 Health & Safety Guidelines cover three adventure activities: trekking, biking and rafting. ATTA has also developed an overarching guideline for the industry. All the resources have been developed in association with US healthcare provider Cleveland Clinic.
According to the overarching guidelines from the ATTA, the aim is to protect, mitigate and respond with regards to the Covid-19 pandemic. The guidelines detail the main strategic goals as being to: create transmission barriers – through social and physical distancing and reducing contact with surface areas; enhance sanitation; promote health screening, include preventive solutions; encourage prompt responses to Covid-19, whether that be testing, treatment, repatriation or claims handling; and protect communities.
“Health and Safety has always been important in responsible adventure travel,” said Shannon Stowell, CEO of ATTA. “The Covid-19 pandemic adds a layer of risk of a transmissible disease both in daily life and in travel experiences. These guidelines provide a path to an organised and safer reopening for the adventure industry by providing a common set of actions that can be used by a diverse range of travel businesses and suppliers across the industry supply chain.”
At a time in which a wealth of emerging country-specific and association-specific Covid-19 health and safety protocols are beginning to emerge, these new guidelines will be helpful in reassuring travellers that protocols for safe travel are being put into place in all areas of the travel and tourism marketplace.