The President & CEO of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), Julia Simpson, mentioned that the organization fully supports the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and Airports Council International Europe (ACI) calls to abolish all present entry limitations on intra-EU and Schengen Area travel.
Simpson stated that the patchwork of the COVID-19 rules and regulations that are still there had created a serious and devastating situation in the entire economy, and for this reason, it has been said that it is important to declare the measures invalid.
Moreover, Simpson issued a statement, which includes, “The patchwork of restrictions do nothing to prevent the spread of COVID but have caused serious damage to the economy, causing the loss of jobs and businesses. Over the past few weeks, we have seen economies reopening. It is time to remove these ineffective restrictions and allow people to travel freely.”
Along with this, the IATA and ACI Europe have just recently called on the government to ease up the remaining requirements that are being applied for travel within the EU and Schengen Area.
The IATA and ACI Europe have urged the authorities to permit the restriction-free movement for travellers by lifting up all of the requirements to present a vaccination or the recovery certificate.
Additionally, the two aviation groups have emphasized that the EU responsible authorities should no longer require travellers to show a negative COVID-19 test result or complete a Passenger Locator Form (PLF).
However, the Director-General of ACI Europe, Olivier Jankovec, mentioned, “The independent research and modelling published today show that governments can lift restrictions with confidence โ both for today and any future variants of concern. Travel rules and regulations have proven to be a blunt instrument with little to no impact on the transmission of the virus. Easing all COVID-19 restrictions will finally fully restore the freedom to travel.”