TRAVELLERS must have the facts about bird flu to prevent panic, and the industry needs to play its part limiting the risk of human infection.
That is the message from the World Tourism Organisation, which is working to co-ordinating its response with the World Health Organisation.
The pair came together for a series of briefings at ITB in Berlin last week.
Geoffrey Lipman, special adviser to UNWTO, said: “Avian flu is not yet a major challenge for tourism, it’s an agricultural crisis. But if there is human-to-human transmission, we’ll have problems. At any moment, there are two-and-a-half million people travelling. Airports would be closed and aircraft grounded.”
Lipman added: “In a situation in which travel can’t operate for a time in a locality, what do you do with passengers? This may occur suddenly, and we must put procedures in place.”
UNWTO secretary-general Francesco Frangialli said: “We don’t want to create a panic – there is no risk to travel today. What makes bird flu special is it could generate a response from governments that restricts travel.”
Helge Hollmeyer of the WHO warned: “We are closer to a pandemic than at any time since 1968, but the timing and severity is uncertain.”
The UNWTO has set up a working party to prepare for a crisis. It is establishing a website to provide a single source of information and will co-ordinate an industry-wide response with bodies such as the International Air Transport Association and the International Federation of Tour Operators.
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