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International Travel Anyone?
In a nutshell there's hope for that summer vacation 2021
By spring 2021, travel industry experts predict as vaccines alongside risk-based safety measures are rolled out more widely the spiking coronavirus cases around the world will hopefully begin to fall.
Paul Charles, founder and CEO of London-based travel consultancy The PC Agency stats vaccines and testing are the way forward, but what's needed perhaps as desperately is greater consistency and coordination across borders.
When you don't have a coordinated global approach, it's very difficult for the industry to go forward, especially when you have the rules of the game changing basically every single day," said Luis Felipe de Oliveira, director general of Airports Council International (ACI), a global trade organization representing the world's airports.
There is still quite a lot of work with testing the “new norm” protocols such as the federal mandate to wear a face mask for airplane travel. Also there is a new protocol requiring a negative COVID test from international travelers. Anyone flying to the U.S. from abroad will have to show proof of a recent negative COVID test before boarding. Nonetheless, here are some major hurdles travelers and the industry will need to overcome:
1. No More Quarantines
Traveling days are already daunting and time consuming, let alone forcing travelers to quarantine for 14 days. Imagine traveling twice in a year and having to quarantine 30 days total, that’s a whole month lost! That kind of time investment, along with the confusion around requirements are big deterrents for people who might otherwise be willing to travel.
2. Proving Negative Covid Test
Whether you have symptoms or not, getting tested and proving negative covid test results is one barrier to slow the spread of covid during travel. It makes sense as you encounter thousands of people just walking through and airport and boarding an airplane, making it a cesspool of germs.
Currently there are no exact protocols on how to handle this. You can print off paper documents from unknown labs in languages that may be unfamiliar to those inspecting them. Also it is way too easy for forged documents via photoshop to pass. That is why there are health apps being developed such as CommonPass, a tool that would allow travelers to share lab results and vaccination records without revealing other personal health information. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is also working on a digital Travel Pass platform.3. Independent = Inconsistent Measures
As the world waits for the decline of cases, countries, states, cities, and even corporations all are implementing their own internal solutions that all vary. Something is better than nothing especially with the mandate of travel masks for airplanes, unfortunately like most things Covid-related, these measures are subject to change.
Delta Air Lines is trying quarantine-free flights to the Netherlands. These flights employ a combination of the gold-standard PCR testing with pre-boarding rapid antigen testing.
FINAL NOTE
Just like post 9/11, it’s a new normal we will all have to get used to. Here at FLYGIENE our vision is to help the world reach the greater goal, which is traveling the globe. What is worse than the world going through a pandemic (which naturally decreases tourism), it’s the lack of trust in the unknown moving forward. We want the spirit of travel and tourism to recover and build trust in traveling lean, traveling clean and safe with FLYGIENE travel size toiletries such as our travel masks for airplanes, FLYGIENE has you cleared for takeoff.
