International travel and tourism was dealt a new blow a few weeks ago by the reaction of many governments wishing to minimise the spread of the so-called “South African” variant of the Sars-CoV-2 virus, whose correct name is B. 1.351.
The UK and some other European countries banned direct passenger flights to and from SA as did the US more recently. The inbound SA tourist industry was especially hard hit by these actions at a time when it was only just starting to recover from a long period of enforced hibernation. And the local hospitality industry suffered another serious blow with the imposition of bans on beach visits and alcohol in late December, which were only rescinded in early February.
There has to be a better way to maintain an effective balance between virus suppression and having a healthy tourism and hospitality industry, and the long-term solution probably lies in global mass vaccination.
The actions of most global governments in handling this pandemic have been clumsy at best and destructive at worst. Only the Far Eastern countries such as China (including Hong Kong), Taiwan, Vietnam, New Zealand and a few others appear to have got it right from day one and are now back to a large degree of normality. New Zealand has eradicated the virus completely, with only the odd outbreaks being nipped in the bud quickly and efficiently.
The UK and many other European countries are now in a retrogressive process of selectively banning flights into their countries and imposing restrictions on who can leave and enter. These countries have a morbid fear of the B. 1.351 variant and are determined to ensure that it doesn’t become the dominant variant, hence the knee-jerk reaction in banning flights.
The longer-term and the only sustainable solution to this situation lies in global mass vaccination, for without that, international travel will remain at the mercy of intermittent lockdowns, flight bans and expensive and unreliable PCR swab testing for traces of the virus. Developed countries are leading the way with mass vaccination but the developing world runs the risk of missing out due to the expense and logistical difficulties of rolling out mass vaccination for its populations.
Already certain countries such as Cyprus, Poland, Iceland, Lebanon, Seychelles, Thailand and Romania have instituted vaccination certification for people wishing to travel into and out of their countries. Over time, this surely must become the norm, replacing quarantining and PCR testing. PCR testing, requiring a negative PCR test no more than 72 hours before departure is expensive, time-consuming and unreliable as well as being inconsistent in the way tests are performed and have little or no global regulatory oversight attached to them.
A globally recognised vaccination certificate would solve all of those problems. The International Air Traffic Association (Iata) is well on the way to establishing a so-called “travel pass” that will act as a vaccine passport in addition to being a first reference point for information for travellers.
But the vaccine rollout in SA is only expected to get under way in earnest by the second quarter of 2021 and the rest of Africa may well take longer than that. Meanwhile, many more countries will adopt a vaccination certification method of permitting entry to their countries and those countries that persist with quarantining and PCR swab testing will miss out as travellers will prefer the ease and reduced cost of travelling to vaccination certification countries on holiday.
SA tourism needs to avoid another missed peak inbound tourist season between October 2021 and March 2022. It can do this by adopting a vaccine certification regimen and publicising it widely. Additionally