Vaccines, digital solutions give impetus to travel recovery: UNWTO

 

The global vaccination rollout and increased adoption of digital solutions for safe travel should lead to a rise in international mobility over the weeks and months ahead, the latest data from the UNWTO has shown.

According to the newest edition of the Travel Restrictions Report from the UN agency, as of June 1, 29 percent of all destinations worldwide have their borders completely closed to international tourism.

Of these, more than half have been completely closed to tourists since May 2020 or longer, with the majority of these belonging to the SIDS (small island developing states) of Asia and the Pacific. In comparison, just three destinations (Albania, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic) are completely open to tourists, with no restrictions now in place.

One in three (34 percent) of all destinations are partially closed, and 36 percent require a negative Covid-19 test result upon arrival, and in some cases, in combination with a quarantine requirement.

The data confirmed the trend towards destinations adopting more nuanced, evidence-and-risk-based approaches to restrictions on travel, particularly in light of the evolving epidemiological situation and the emergence of new variants of the virus. Indeed, 42 percent of all destinations have introduced specific restrictions for visitors from destinations with variants of concern, ranging from the suspension of flights and closing of borders to compulsory quarantine.

Additionally, since most of those destinations with the strictest measures have some of the lowest rates of vaccination, the data also indicated a link between vaccination speed and easing of restrictions. In comparison, those destinations that have higher rates of vaccination and where countries are able to work together on harmonised rules and protocols such as those being employed in the Schengen area of the European Union, are better-placed to allow tourism to slowly return.

“Governments are instrumental for the restart and recovery of tourism through collaboration, use of data and digital solutions”, said UNWTO secretary-general Zurab Pololikashvili.

Regional differences with regards to travel restrictions remain. 70 percent of all destinations in Asia and the Pacific are completely closed, compared with just 13 percent in Europe, as well as 20 percent in the Americas, 19 percent in Africa and 31 percent in the Middle East.

Assessing current requirements for vaccinated passengers, 17 percent of all destinations worldwide specifically mention vaccinated passengers in their regulations. In most cases, travel restrictions continue to apply to fully vaccinated passengers (who have received two doses of an approved vaccine), though in others, all restrictions are lifted. UNWTO expects that this will significantly evolve over the coming weeks.

The report indicated that the restart of global tourism will remain muted so long as governments continue to advise caution. Four of the 10 top source markets, which generated 25 percent of all international arrivals in 2018, keep advising their citizens against non-essential travel abroad.

-TTG Asia.

Malaysia Airlines to Introduce Digital Travel Health Pass, Reopening Travel to The World

 

KLIA, 24 February 2021: Malaysia Airlines is excited to announce its plan to introduce the Digital Travel Health Pass, yet another milestone the airline is taking on its path to empower passengers to travel around the world once again with confidence and ease. The Digital Travel Health Pass will incorporate some modules of the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) Travel Pass that have been developed on the basic principle to allow travelers to be in control of their journey while travelling around the world.

 

The Digital Travel Health Pass, which will be integrated with the Malaysia Airlines mobile app, will kickstart and streamline a passenger’s travel journey, with simple easy-to-follow steps before they start on their travel. Passengers can easily make appointments with certified medical partners to carry out a COVID-19 RT-PCR test or include their COVID-19 vaccination certificate on their mobile phones, making the process of tackling their travel requirements much more straightforward and manageable for the everyday traveler. In addition, passengers can verify their travel eligibility with the airline before their travels, making them aware and informed of the constantly developing travel policies worldwide

 

The Digital Travel Health Pass will also integrate modules from the IATA Travel Pass that enable passengers to create a digital passport, verify their test/vaccination requirements and status, and share their “OK to Travel” status with the relevant authorities. This digital ID on the App will pave the way for Malaysia Airlines’ passengers to eventually take advantage of contactless technology options throughout the travel processes. 

 

According to Group Chief Executive Officer of Malaysia Aviation Group, Izham Ismail, “We are excited to make history together with IATA, and help reopen travel nationally and worldwide. Part of our promise to ensure passengers can Fly Confidently, the Digital Travel Health Pass will open the way for us to take the brave next step into the world in a post-pandemic time, instilling confidence in our passengers and providing access to an easy-to-navigate way to prepare for their upcoming travels.”

 

As a central part to the airline’s commitment to provide safe travels to its passengers during this critical and challenging time, the travel health pass is the one-step solution in ensuring all passengers can travel safely while maintaining that all the necessary precautions are taken in limiting the spread of the virus. Creating a contactless journey with travel documents stored securely on the platform, passengers will enjoy a safer, end-to-end seamless travel experience.

 

“Partnering with Malaysia Airlines to integrate IATA Travel Pass into the airlines’ own app is an important milestone for the IATA Travel Pass. It will demonstrate the apps interoperability, an important feature supporting its global uptake. Built with data privacy, security and convenience in mind, the IATA travel app is a solution that both governments and passengers can trust whether it is stand-alone or incorporated into an airline’s own travel app,” said Nick Careen, IATA’s Senior Vice President Airport, Passenger, Cargo, Security.

 

Malaysia Airlines is working closely with the relevant authorities to roll out the health pass and will be sharing more details in the coming weeks. Download the Malaysia Airlines app today, to keep updated on the Health Pass’s latest updates and be one of the first to Fly Malaysia worldwide once again.

-Malaysia Airlines.

Digital passes can boost travel confidence: GlobalData

 

Digital health passes and certificates can play a pivotal role in tourism recovery by boosting consumer confidence when travelling during the Covid era, highlighted a recent report by GlobalData.

The analytics company noted that several stakeholders of the travel and tourism industry, including destinations, airlines and associations like IATA, are exploring the option of digital passes and health certificates.

These digital passes and certificates intend to lower the risk of Covid-19 infection by providing accurate details on the health status of passengers.

Since May 2020, Singapore has been testing ICC AOKpass, a digitally verifiable Covid-19 health certificate for entrance to the country. It is backed by health and security services provider International SOS, International Chamber of Commerce and AOKpass. In line with this, all travellers from Indonesia and Malaysia can make use of the facility that will be made available to other international travellers in a phased manner.

AOKpass is also being used on flights between Abu Dhabi and Karachi/ Islamabad as well as Rome and New York City/Atlanta. Another similar digital pass, CommonPass, has been tested on flights between New York and London. Additionally, IATA is also working on a Travel Pass.

Animesh Kumar, director of travel & tourism and automotive consulting at GlobalData, said: “Digital passes help passengers prove that they adhere to the health entry requirements of their destination and enhance the safety of international travellers. Since these can be stored in and used through a mobile application, they are easy to use. The app securely stores and authenticates the negative Covid-19 PCR test results. The passes can also facilitate faster clearances if airports have dedicated immigration counters, similar to Changi Airport in Singapore.”

Stressing the urgent need for a framework that brings the passengers, testing labs, local authorities, airlines and immigration authorities on a common platform, GlobalData said that such digital passes/certificates can facilitate that. The use of QR codes, blockchain and decentralised data ensures data accuracy as well as privacy, it added.

A large-scale rollout of such passes would reduce the lag created by the time-consuming processing of paper certificates, which are also susceptible to potential test result frauds.

Kumar concluded: “Digital health passes would help in boosting the consumers’ confidence as they would enhance efficiency, safety, security as well as data privacy and reduce the risks of in-flight infections. There is also a potential for expanding the use of such digital passes for domestic travel as well as entry in concerts and stadiums.”

-TTG Asia.

IATA unveils key design elements of IATA Travel Pass

 

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has unveiled key design elements of the IATA Travel Pass, a mobile app to help travellers easily and securely manage their travel in line with any government requirements for Covid-19 testing or vaccine information.

Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s director general and CEO, said: “Testing is the immediate solution to safely reopen borders and re-connect people. And eventually, this is likely to transition to vaccination requirements. In either case, a secure system to manage Covid-19 testing or vaccination information is critical.

“The IATA Travel Pass is a solution that both travelers and governments can trust. And it is being built with data security, convenience and verification as top priorities.”

Scheduled for release in 1Q2021 for Android and iPhone, the IATA Travel Pass will boast three critical design elements:

1. Putting travellers in control of their personal information for top level data security and data privacy.

The IATA Travel Pass stores encrypted data including verified test or vaccination results on the mobile device of the traveller, who controls dissemination of information to airlines and authorities. No central database or data repository is storing the information, thereby, ensuring the highest standards for data privacy.

2. Global standards recognised by governments to ensure verified identity and test/vaccine information.

a. Verified identity: A government issued ePassport is used to verify the identity of the user. It also serves to create a digital representation of the user’s passport to allow the information to be sent electronically in a secured way that is linked to their verified identity.

b. Verified test results or vaccine information: Currently, the main vaccination requirement for entry into some countries is for yellow fever. Under the International Health Regulations, this is managed by the “yellow card” or International Certificate of Vaccination and Prophylaxis. The World Health Organization is developing digital standards that will make these vastly more secure and will dramatically reduce fraud. When ready, the IATA Travel Pass will be able to accommodate such new global standards.

Until a Covid-19 vaccine is widely available to the general public, the priority is on Covid-19 testing. Laboratories have well-established safety standards for managing and verifying test results to individuals. IATA is partnering with selected and established laboratories to securely link their test results with the verified identity of the IATA Travel Pass holder.

3. Convenience and biosafety will be enhanced with integration into contactless travel processes. The ICAO CART recommendations for biosafety include the use of contactless travel processes to reduce the risk of virus transmission when documents need to be exchanged in the travel process.

The industry has been developing contactless travel processes as part of a One ID transformation programme for several years. The IATA Travel Pass digital identity management module uses the principles of One ID (which are, in turn, based on ICAO standards). For the passenger, this means that the IATA Travel Pass will also unlock the potential for convenient contactless travel processes from check-in to boarding.

IATA is developing the IATA Travel Pass in four independent modules that can interact with each other. These modules will cover registries for regulatory entry requirements and labs/test centres, verified certificate issuance, digital identity and the possibility for passengers to share their tests results along their journey via their mobile device. Open standards enable the modules to be used as one solution or to complement capabilities being developed by other solutions providers.

-TTG Asia.

IATA Travel Pass Key in final development phase

 

IATA Travel Pass will manage and verify the secure flow of necessary testing or vaccine information among governments, airlines, laboratories and travellers

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) Travel Pass, a digital health passport that will support the safe reopening of borders, is now in the final phase of development and will see its first cross-border pilot later this year as well as a launch slated for 1Q2021.

As governments begin to rely on testing as a replacement of quarantine measures to limit the risks of Covid-19 importation when reopening their borders to travellers, the IATA Travel Pass will support the procedure by managing and verifying the secure flow of necessary testing or vaccine information among governments, airlines, laboratories and travellers.

The IATA Travel Pass incorporates four open sourced and interoperable modules which can be combined for an end-to-end solution. The first module covers a global registry of health requirements, which enables passengers to find accurate information on travel, testing and eventually vaccine requirements for their journey.

The second covers a global registry of testing / vaccination centre, enabling passengers to find testing centres and labs at their departure location which meet the standards for testing and vaccination requirements of their destination.

The third module takes in the Lab App, which enables authorised labs and test centres to securely share test and vaccination certificates with passengers.

Lastly, the Contactless Travel App enables passengers to create a digital passport; receive test and vaccination certificates and verify that they are sufficient for their itinerary; and share testing or vaccination certificates with airlines and authorities to facilitate travel. This app can also be used by travellers to manage travel documentation digitally and seamlessly throughout their journey, improving travel experience.

IATA Travel Pass is based on industry standards and IATA’s proven experience in managing information flows around complex travel requirements. IATA’s Timatic, which is used by most airlines to manage compliance with passport and visa regulations, is the base for the global registry and verification of health requirements.

IATA’s One ID initiative, which was endorsed by a resolution at its 75th Annual General Meeting in 2019 to securely facilitate travel processes with a single identity token, is the base for the IATA Contactless Travel App.

IATA and International Airlines Group (IAG) have been working together in the development of this solution and will undertake a trial to demonstrate that this platform combined with Covid-19 testing can reopen international travel and replace quarantine.

“Today borders are double locked. Testing is the first key to enable international travel without quarantine measures. The second key is the global information infrastructure needed to securely manage, share and verify test data matched with traveler identities in compliance with border control requirements. That’s the job of IATA Travel Pass. We are bringing this to market in the coming months to also meet the needs of the various travel bubbles and public health corridors that are starting operation,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s director general and CEO.

Nick Careen, IATA senior vice president, airport, passenger, cargo and security, commented: “Our main priority is to get people travelling again safely. In the immediate term that means giving governments confidence that systematic Covid-19 testing can work as a replacement for quarantine requirements. And that will eventually develop into a vaccine programme. The IATA Travel Pass is a solution for both.”

Careen explained that the IATA Travel Pass’s interoperability will allow it to be used in combination with other providers or as a standalone end-to-end solution.

Throughout the travel and tourism crisis, IATA has advocated the use of rapid, accurate, affordable, easy-to-operate, scalable and systematic Covid-19 testing for all passengers before departure as an alternative to restrictive quarantine measures in order to re-establish global air connectivity.

Earlier in June, Juniac had expressed: “Imposing quarantine measures on arriving travelers keeps countries in isolation and the travel and tourism sector in lockdown.”

-TTG Asia.