Commission-led Task Force’s creation aiming to recover the freedom of movement and which presents recommendations for the reopening of tourism in Europe has been disclosed by more than 60 travel and tourism organizations.
In a press release, the European Travel Commission announces that the European Tourism Manifesto alliance has disclosed how to bring back to life travel and tourism in Europe in time for summer 2021 by a sequence of mutual recommendations, one of the main being establishing an EU road map to recover travelling safely,reports.
A hardworking Commission Task Force would provide help in creating and implementing a road map and provide evaluations upon the risk based on scientific data. In such a case, the aim would be to consider the scenarios and conditions within which international travel restrictions could be loosened and eventually lifted in Europe and elsewhere. Consequently, the road map will need to be updated regularly.
The recommendations given by the European Tourism Manifesto alliance were shared with EU governments. These recommendations ask from the Commission-led Task to monitor the advancement and the effect of vaccination campaigns and quarantine and testing concerning the degree of risk in Europe and worldwide.
“Our goal is for Europe to return to its place as the leading tourist destination in the world – and a safe one. As EU vaccination programmes progress and protect the most vulnerable citizens, we must jointly prepare for the restart of travel. There is simply no time to lose. Our recommendations detail a joint way forward towards restoring travel & tourism and freedom of movement on behalf of European citizens,” declared the European Tourism Manifesto.
The recommendations given to the EU Member States include:
The creation of an EU Task Force in order to help with the development and creation of a travel restart plan, the recovery of the roadmap, and the reconstruction of people’s free movement.
Coordination between EU countries in relation to requirements and travel restrictions that could help the restart of travel and tourism and provide foreseeability to tourists, businesses, and workers.
A unified EU testing scheme for travellers that should include reasonably priced testing, adequate capacity, and recognition of tests between the Member States. Also, the authorization to use antigen and rapid tests for tourism and travel purposes is needed immediately, together with the routine evaluation of the accepted tests.
The coordination of EU national initiatives should immediately avoid requiring different certificates related to testing, vaccination, and immunity by creating a collaborative European system in which DG SANTE should take a leading role and work with DG MOVE and DG GROW. This would allow fast digital checks of travellers’ tests and vaccination status. Further, vaccination should not be compulsory to travel. The already vaccinated travellers should not be banned from entering a country, asked for testing, and stay in quarantine. With the latest scientific understanding, vaccinated people have a lower chance of spreading the virus.
According to the press release of the ETC, as soon as the health situation is fully under control, it is very important to restart tourism, recreational activities and the reestablishment of freedom of movement for the citizens of the EU by integrating a coordinated reopening of tourism.
More than 60 European public and private organizations are gathered by the European Tourism Manifesto alliance. The alliance invites the European Union to take action on main priorities regarding the sector of tourism.
Additionally, “A common list of COVID-19 rapid antigen tests, including those whose test results are mutually recognized, and a common standardized set of data to be included in COVID-19 test result certificates,” was published by the Health Security Committee in February 2021.
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