BUSINESS NEWS Capa Online Summit: Aviation experts chart path to global tourism recovery. Ian Taylor reports


Asian nations’ hopes for 2021 restart ‘unrealistic’


Many Asian destinations’ plans for restarting travel are “unrealistic” and reopening in 2021 will “be a huge challenge”, the head of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) has warned. Mario Hardy, Pata chief executive,


told a Capa Centre for Aviation summit: “People were too ambitious.” He said: “In Thailand, the


restrictions are back on. Bangkok is in lockdown. Singapore just found a new cluster and is putting on restrictions again. India is having a really challenging time. In Japan, there will not only be no international visitors to the Olympics, now they say there won’t be an audience at all. “China is doing fantastically


well. There were record numbers of travellers at the May holiday. But China is closed. You can’t travel out or in.” Hardy argued: “People were too


ambitious with their goals – Thailand specifically, with its goal of opening by July 1 when less than 0.1% of the population has been vaccinated.”


‘Standardisation of health certificates to take long time’


Governments which imposed tight border controls have “been vindi- cated”, say senior industry figures in Asia, who warn it is “going to take a hell of a long time” to standardise health certificates for travellers. Subhas Menon, director general of the Association of Asia Pacific


travelweekly.co.uk Bangkok


different pace of vaccinating people. Thailand has vaccines but has not started mass vaccination yet.” Subhas Menon, director general


Australia and New Zealand opened


a ‘travel bubble’ in April although parts have since been suspended because of Covid-19 outbreaks. Hardy noted: “The number of


cases in Australia and New Zealand are minimal. That is the key to opening a bubble. A 2021 restart for most destinations will be a huge challenge.” The problem is not a scarcity of


vaccines, he said, arguing: “Most countries in Asia have acquired sufficient vaccines but have a


Airlines (AAPA), suggested it is “unrealistic” to call on governments to reopen borders at this stage of the pandemic. Menon said: “We have to ask


governments to consider reopening, but the reality is the policy of tighter controls has been vindicated. It’s unrealistic to ask governments to reopen borders immediately.” Mario Hardy, chief executive of


the Pacific Asia Travel Association, agreed: “It is difficult to push governments to reopen under the current conditions.”


However, speaking at a Capa


Centre for Aviation summit, Hardy said: “Now is still the time to prepare, to put protocols in place,


of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA), agreed, telling the summit: “Vaccine deployment in the region, with the exception of Singapore where 25% have already received two doses, is below 10%, even in Australia. That is one reason why the mood is despondent. In addition, mutant variants are circulating so countries have slammed down border restrictions. “We had the announcement of


the Hong Kong-Singapore bubble scheduled for May 26. But with the Singapore cluster and Hong Kong’s shutdown of a residential area, they are saying ‘We can’t go further’.” He noted: “Countries able to


control the virus are in no mood to reopen their borders.” Menon added: “It’s not possible to


get any sort of multilateral agreement on how to reopen borders.”


Mario Hardy


Travel corridor with US tipped to open ‘in weeks’


A UK-US travel corridor could reopen as soon as June or July, the head of European air traffic management organisation Eurocontrol has forecast. Director general Eamonn


Brennan said traffic from the UK to the US “will probably resume in June”. He suggested the US would


be added to the UK’s green list next month but Britain would have to wait for the US to reciprocate while the rest of Europe “might lag a little”. Speaking on a Capa Centre


for Aviation online summit, Brennan argued: “The US and UK have a similar vaccination level so a corridor will most certainly open. I see it being the first one in Europe toward the end of June or July.” An aviation analyst agreed a


UK restart to the US is “weeks away”. Daniel Roeska, managing director at Bernstein Research, said: “The US is a matter of weeks rather than months away.”


to recognise vaccination passports.” He warned: “This will be a really


challenging process. One billion people around the world have been vaccinated. Most carry a piece of paper in their own language. How do you digitise this?” Menon agreed: “We have travel


passes being promulgated, but there are no digital health certificates. “We need governments to come


on board [but] they are cautious about whose certificates they recognise. It’s going to take a hell of a long time.”


20 MAY 2021 47


PICTURES: Shutterstock/Katatonia82, Avigator Fortuner; Rüdiger Nehmzow


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