“A disorderly restart with changing and confusing requirements” will have longterm negative impact, says IATA’s Vinoop Goel
IN the first year of the pandemic, it seemed that the Asia Pacific region, with its early success in managing the spread of infections, would be among the first to make a comeback in travel.
But as the pandemic took its twists and turns, Asia, with its strict border controls, started to lag behind and three years in, the region has become the laggard in travel recovery, with some of the strictest travel restrictions still in place especially in North Asia while countries in Europe have declared it’s time to live with the virus and remove all restrictions.
In the past weeks though, borders in South-east Asia as well as Australia and even New Zealand are creaking open, unfortunately with varying rules of entry and pacing that will no doubt confuse travellers eager to revisit the region.
Cambodia led the way last November 15 with the simplest conditions for entry – as long as you are vaccinated and do a simple test on arrival, you are free to wander. The Philippines is set to take a similar approach February 10. Malaysia is looking to reopen without quarantine rules from March. Australia has announced that from February 21, its borders will reopen to foreigners – with quarantine rules to be set by each state. Vietnam is likely looking at March or April. Bali has started welcoming international flights, but with a four-day quarantine in place, appetite, however hungry, could be dampened. Thailand has restarted its Test and Go scheme, but introduced a second test on Day 5, which will no doubt deter some travellers. Singapore, meanwhile, is still clinging onto its calibrated Vaccinated Travel Lane approach, quotas of which were halved with the onset of the omicron variant and a daily testing regime still in place on return.
Through these turbulent years, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has been lobbying governments to follow the science in opening borders and to collaborate and harmonise policies as well as introduced its own IATA Travel Pass to help facilitate cross-border travel. IATA has also developed a blueprint for safe reopening by States implementing simple, predictable, and practical measures.
We catch up with Vinoop Goel, IATA’s regional director, Airports and External Relations, Asia Pacific, to get an update on the association’s view on the region and recovery prospects for aviation and travel in Asia Pacific.
Vinoop Goel: 2021 international passenger demand in APAC still at 7% of 2019 levels. “We see growing momentum towards relaxation of travel restrictions”.
Q: From the outset of the pandemic, IATA’s mission was to see “no quarantine” cross-border travel reinstated, and you spoke about harmonisation of policies and collaboration. Three years in, has the progress in Asia been disappointing?
2021 international passenger demand in the Asia Pacific region was about 7% of 2019 levels, the lowest among all the regions. But demand has started to move in the right direction. November and December saw international passenger demand break the 10% (of 2019) barrier, the first time since the Covid-19 crisis began.
Asia Pacific states introduced some of the strictest travel restrictions in the world since the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis. The region’s previous experience dealing with the 2003 SARS outbreak and slow vaccination roll-out in many countries meant governments have a low risk tolerance for disease spread. Ironically, however, the initial success in curbing the COVID-19 spread also subsequently hampered a faster upturn in Asia.
However we started to see a divergence in the approaches towards the end of 2021. And following a speed bump due to Omicron, we are seeing growing momentum towards relaxation of travel restrictions – recently in Australia, in the Philippines, Thailand and to some extent new Zealand.
Q: Clearly Asia has been the slowest in recovery, will this be a disadvantage as the rest of the world has opened up gradually? How will this place Asian carriers whose fortunes are tied to cross-border travel such as Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines?
Covid-19 has had a massive impact on all airlines the world over. Of the US$200 billion cumulative loss over the three-year period from 2020 to 2022, we project that airlines in the Asia Pacific will account for about a third. So, it is a challenging time. The delay in reopening of international borders will exacerbate the situation.
With borders largely still closed and international travel at barely 10% of what it was pre-Covid, the industry will require continued and on-going government support to tide through the crisis.
Q3: There have lately been some good news in South-east Asia around reopening – which piece of news in particular surprised you the most?
We all wish there are more good surprises than bad and the aviation industry really needs some good surprises. The recent announcement by Australia on reopening to all vaccinated travellers was a pleasant surprise especially given Australia’s track record to border controls during the crisis. On the other hand, the current restrictions in place at some of the top tourist destinations like Bali and Phuket are surprising too given the potential contribution of travel and tourism to the economic recovery of these places.
Q4: Reopening moves seem tentative at best compared with developments in Europe – Thailand’s been stop and start, which only leads to confusion and loss of trust among consumers. What else needs to happen for travel recovery to be accelerated so that cross-border travel can happen again?
We need governments to look at reopening borders, allowing the free flow of air travel without quarantine by treating Covid-19 as an endemic disease and managing it through testing and vaccination.
IATA has developed a blueprint for safe reopening by States implementing simple, predictable, and practical measures. We urge governments to adopt this blueprint which highlights three focus areas.
The first focus is health protocols that are simple consistent and predictable. This includes removing all travel barriers for those who are fully vaccinated with a WHO-approved vaccine and enabling quarantine free travel for non-vaccinated travelers with a negative pre-departure antigen test result.
The second is to implement digital solutions to process health credentials, which will facilitate automated check-in process and reduce airport processing and waiting times. This includes implementing a pan-national digital health credential to record health status.
The third is to ensure Covid-19 measures are proportionate to the risk levels with a continuous review process. This includes publishing risk assessments used to make decisions relating to international travel, and reviewing existing processes and applying a sunset clause to ensure they are in place only for as long as they are needed.
Q: WiT asked Dr Walter Lim of Fullerton Health if Asian countries could follow the UK in terms of scrapping tests and his response was “The UK exists on one end of the spectrum. We have countries pursuing zero Covid to those that are open, and more are converging in between. I don’t see this happening in the immediate term. Rather than tests going away, we will move from PCR to ART which makes it more practical – better lead times and lower price points. We will get to a situation of no-testing but this will take time.” What’s your response?
Every country has a different risk appetite based on their own domestic health situation and other factors. The restrictions that governments put in place are directly related to managing the risk. A move to ART or even no testing is rightly being pursued by some countries given the reduced risks from Omicron and increased vaccination rates. The priority has to be elimination of quarantine followed by easing and eventual elimination of testing.
Q: Can you update us on the IATA Travel Pass and what role, if any, it has played in facilitating cross-border travel in Asia?
IATA Travel Pass has also evolved as states have changed their entry requirements from testing to vaccination. Last year the focus was on trials and testing and we are happy to note that some airlines have started implementation while others are gearing up to do so. Watch this space!
Q: What tech innovations have you seen from the industry that have been most useful in helping governments open borders?
By far, the game changers have been the use or biometrics and the availability of digital vaccination certificates. This has allowed for contactless travel with faster and more secure processing of passengers.
Q: Cambodia was the first SEA country to have a no-condition policy on reopening – one test on arrival, all vaccinated travellers welcome. Bali has opened doors to international flights, but it comes with five or seven day quarantine still. Should more countries follow Cambodia’s example?
In recent weeks, we have seen growing momentum towards relaxation of travel restrictions – in Australia, the Philippines, Thailand, and to some extent New Zealand, and potentially Malaysia. We urge other governments in the Asia Pacific to look at similarly further easing their border restrictions so as to enable aviation businesses to accelerate their much needed recovery and to bring maximum benefits to their economies.
Q: Given what’s been happening with the pandemic which is being accepted as endemic in Europe, is there still a case for Singapore’s Vaccinated Travel Lane policy?
Each country has a different risk appetite and is reopening their border to international travel at their own pace. Some, like Australia, have gone all the way, while others are taking a more cautious approach. The important thing is to keep moving forward with the reopening efforts.
Q: Can you share some best practices from countries that have reopened – for eg Maldives? Or Dubai?
Maldives was an early adopter of – come to Maldives, get vaccinated while being confined at the hotel. This allowed for tourists to essentially be on holiday while quarantining … but this is something unique to Maldives. Dubai was the front runner in reopening travel to international passengers without quarantine or additional restrictions, providing free testing and enabling the use of IATA Travel Pass.
Q: How do you see the competitive Asian aviation landscape panning out as we emerge from the pandemic? Will we ever get to a post-Covid stage?
I am a believer in Asian aviation – people need to travel for work, leisure and most importantly to reconnect with friends and family. Thus travel will recover throughout the region but the countries which manage the recovery quickly but in a safe and orderly manner will reap the benefits of the pent up demand for travel. IATA is trying to guide states and airlines as a disorderly restart with changing and confusing requirements can have a long term negative impact on the destination. The race has just started and it will be interesting to see who will emerge as the early winner!
Featured image credit: Getty Images
