Tourism in the Days of Coronavirus: Gloria Guevara Lays Down Her Ideas
Nothing quite as damaging as the coronavirus pandemic has happened before in the world. So, it’s easy to imagine how badly affected the tourism sector would be under so many flight restrictions, travel limits, social distancing, and so on.
With the vaccines now rolling out in full steam, Stephanie Baker from the BloombergQuint sat down with Gloria Guevara to discuss the way forward for the travel and the tourism industry. If you don’t know her already, She is the CEO and president of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) - a think tank in the industry.
You can find the most important points of that discussion below.
Health passports vs Health Passes
While many authorities are exploring the option of issuing a health passport containing all the details about the person’s health conditions to facilitate tracking and tracing. It would set the base for tourism sectors to reopen is what is their argument.
Gloria Guevara and WTTC, however, are opposed to that idea on the grounds of privacy concerns and forgery. She prefers health passes instead, which would only contain the coronavirus testing results and vaccination certificates.
Hassle-free Testing for Short City Breaks
If testing is going to turn into a mandatory thing for tourism and travel, wouldn’t that be hugely deteriorating for the short city breaks? While it’s a cause for concern, the president of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) argues that it won’t be too big of a fuss, as long as the testing process is hassle-free and cost-effective.
Corridors for International Travel
Some countries have already set out clear guidelines for the tourism sector including international incomings and outgoings. Some countries are way less affected too, or at least, more under control. Gloria Guevara suggests that it may be a great idea to explore the possibilities of short corridors between the safe countries to facilitate safe international travels during and post Coronavirus reality.