Joseph
by Tyler Durden
Vaccination passports are being called the new “golden ticket” needed for global travel – and the hospitality industries that benefit from them – now that the recovery is on its way.
Countries like Greece, which gets a large share of their country’s GDP from tourism, are looking to welcome visitors again. Greece will reopen itself to visitors on May 14. Bloomberg Indicated In the past week, however, it will require either vaccination and proof of cure from the virus with a negative test before leaving for the country.
Those who need tourism to earn a living are ready to go. “It’s the safest way,” said Panagiotis Masturas, the charter boat operator.
Greece leads the way in pushing for passports for vaccines – usually in the form of certificates or digital cards – an idea also prevalent in tourist countries such as Thailand and the Caribbean. For companies that depend on tourism, the “passport” is seen as a “path to salvation,” the report notes.
Air travel could end up losing $ 95 billion in 2021 after its worst year on record in 2020. As a result, airlines are following suit in support of ideas that could get people to travel again.
“We pin our hopes on vaccines and the Covid card,” said hotel manager Jorge Marichel, who works in the Canary Islands.
Geoffrey Goh, who heads the Star Alliance that includes 26 airlines including China Airlines, Deutsche Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines and United Airlines Holdings, Tell Bloomberg: “There was a lot of support, but the execution was far from lacking.” He believes that a single set of standards needs to be developed for most major carriers and countries.
Both Singapore Airlines and Qatar Airways have begun trials of passport applications, while Carnival Cruises has said that no one can board their ships without evidence of vaccination. American Airlines has begun testing the VeriFly app (as is the case with Hyatt Hotels) and United has developed its own app that allows passengers to download their vaccination records.
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In the European Union, on March 17th, the “digital green certificate” was awarded the green light. It may take up to 3 months before it is implemented and can be used.
But the devil is in the details. Aside from explicit criticism of globalization and the influx of governments and companies in your medical records, the wide range of vaccines – some of which have been approved in limited quantities in countries – may make it difficult to determine who is “safe” to travel and who is not. Passports are simply unfair, because they “will inevitably favor the residents of the rich countries over the poor ones, where the distribution of bullets has barely begun,” the report notes.
Bill Barnett, founder of C9 Hotelworks, a hotel consultancy, thinks the damage is psychological more than anything: “It’s a case of needing to win hearts and minds. There’s still a fear factor out there.”
The Virginia-based Global Business Travel Association, which oversees more than $ 345 billion, has said simply that the White House must fight back. Which Movements that hinder air travel.
Source: Zero hedge
