THE Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) has called on governments across the European Union (EU) to implement wider COVID testing capabilities instead of blanket travel restrictions.
The plea was made this week amid fears the uniform restrictions from select nations would do significant damage to the corporate travel sector.
“Sudden and unilateral shifts in government response, such as imposition of quarantines or border closures, take a heavy toll on the travel industry, further impeding economic recovery and causing chaos for travellers”, said GBTA Executive Director David Hilfman.
“Increased testing is what we need to restart travel safely, it will restore confidence and revive travel demand whilst preventing new waves of infection.
“Borders cannot stay closed indefinitely, the economy needs trade to resume with people back to work and travelling,” he added.
Improved testing has already been implemented at a number of airports in the EU, with some governments recently announcing they are making COVID-19 testing mandatory for travellers arriving from specified countries.
Despite this, the GBTA believes a “unilateral and coordinated” approach to testing is needed to mitigate the financial damage to the travel sector.
“The European Commission should work with EU governments to unlock appropriate funding to expand testing capacity, improve the accuracy of data and speed of information sharing”, Hilfman contends.
“This is a prerequisite to resurrecting travel and accelerate Europe’s economic recovery”.
The post GBTA calls for wider testing appeared first on Travel Daily.
Source: traveldaily