Covid-19 testing rather than vaccination remains the key to re-opening travel, say senior travel industry figures.
Taleb Rifai, former general secretary of the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), said the vaccines “seem to be proving a success”.
But speaking on a Travel Weekly webcast, he said: “We can only make a judgment on the vaccines after most of the people of the world are vaccinated. What we need now is more testing – testing before you travel, testing before you’re on the plane.
“Testing must become more accessible, more affordable and faster.”
David Scowsill, former president and chief executive of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), agreed, saying: “It’s clear testing is the solution.”
However, Scowsill acknowledged that more-expensive, laboratory based PCR tests are likely to remain important for testing travellers rather than rapid but less-sensitive tests.
Speaking on the same webcast, Scowsill said: “PCR testing is almost mandatory in every country and that is going to continue to be the case for the foreseeable future.”
He argued competition among private test suppliers would ensure “the cost of testing gradually will come down over time”.
But Scowsill also suggested prospective travellers would be willing to pay for tests.
He said: “There is so much pent-up demand for travel and, despite the last 12 months, economic research shows some people have been saving money. They will pay for a test if it’s going to make the difference between travelling and not travelling.”
Scowsill added: “We’re not medical professionals. We just have to listen to what we’re told on vaccinations. [But] there are lots of things around vaccines that are still to become clear, including whether you can catch a different variant of the virus after you’ve had the vaccine.
“The issue for the travel industry is whether, in the next six to 12 months, to allow people who are not vaccinated to come to a country, and how the authorities will monitor what is going on.
“The days of people traveling with a yellow vaccination book have gone.”