Increasing Momentum Towards Re-Opening of Borders and Relaxing Travel Restrictions

(21 Mar 2022, 11:27 +07)  IATA has welcomed the increasing momentum towards re-opening of borders and relaxation of travel restrictions, as many parts of the world decide to classify COVID19 as endemic.

Aegean Airbus A321 reg: SX-DGA. Picture by Steven Howard of TravelNewsAsia.com

An IATA survey of travel restrictions for the world’s top 50 air travel markets - comprising 88% of international demand in 2019 as measured by revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs) - revealed the growing access available to vaccinated travelers:

- 25 markets representing 38% of 2019 international demand are open to vaccinated travelers without quarantine measures or testing requirements - up from 18 markets (28% of 2019 international demand) in mid-February.

- 38 markets representing 65% of 2019 international demand are open to vaccinated travelers with no quarantine requirements - up from 28 markets (50% of 2019 international demand) in mid-February.

Repeated surveys of passengers by IATA during the pandemic has shown that testing and especially quarantine are major barriers to travel.

The regional variations in the degree of openness among the markets are stark.

Travel in Asia remains heavily compromised by COVID restrictions. While North American and European international traffic rebounded to -42% of their 2019 peaks last year, traffic in Asia Pacific remained at -88%. Even in this region, however, there has been some progress, with India and Malaysia among the growing number of countries to recently announce a relaxation of restrictions.

The easing of measures reflects the growing consensus that travel restrictions such as border closures and quarantine do little to control the spread of COVID19.

A recent report by OXERA and Edge Health, looking at the spread of the Omicron variant in Europe, concluded that travel restrictions may only delay the peak of a wave by a few days.

“The world is largely open for travel. As population immunity grows, more governments are managing COVID19 through surveillance, as they do for other endemic viruses. That is great news for a growing number of destinations that will receive a much-needed economic boost from the upcoming Easter and Northern Summer travel seasons. Asia is the outlier. Hopefully recent relaxations including Australia, Bangladesh, New Zealand, Pakistan, and Philippines are paving the way towards restoring the freedom to travel that is more broadly enjoyed in other parts of the world,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General.

According to Johns Hopkins University of Medicine, as of 05:20 Thailand time (GMT+7) on 21 March 2022 there were 470,191,872 confirmed COVID19 cases globally since the pandemic began, an increase of 1,479,425 since 05:20 Thailand time on 20 March 2022. Overall, there have been 6,076,853 deaths since the pandemic began, an increase of 3,423 in the last 24 hours.