With the advance in vaccination levels and a more controlled health situation, measures such as quarantines or traffic lights lose consensus
These are key days for the management of the pandemic and logically for the tourism market. The enormous number of countries that had imposed restrictions due to the advance of the Delta variant of Covid-19 is beginning to lift them or revise them in the short term.
With the advance in vaccination levels, the situation is very different from what the world lived back in March 2020 and from different sectors they demand to remove measures that have failed in their attempt to take care of health at the cost of putting economies at risk.
Julia Simpson, President and CEO of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) stated: "Quarantines are a relic of the onset of COVID-19 and are not necessary for those who have chosen to be fully vaccinated."
"We need more governments around the world to take a focus on testing rather than quarantine to restart the travel and tourism industry."
Willie Walsh, IATA Director General, said: "Data from the US and Israel support the value and benefit of vaccination. Since governments rightly urge their populations to get vaccinated, they must trust the benefits it brings, including the freedom to travel. At a minimum, those who are fully vaccinated should be able to move around without restrictions. "
Juan Carlos Salazar, ICAO Secretary General stated: "Ensuring the safety, security and sustainability of air connectivity is fundamental to the ability of air transport to act as a catalyst for sustainable development. That is why we advocate the implementation of the standards of the ICAO and other guidance ".
"Accelerating the pace of vaccination around the world, working on effective coordination and communication on travel restrictions, and advancing digital tools to facilitate mobility will be critical to restoring confidence and restarting tourism," said the Secretary-General. from UNWTO, Zurab Pololikashvili.
OMT ha remarcado que el turismo internacional se está recuperando, pero no al mismo ritmo en todas las regiones. La preocupación por la variante Delta que llevó a varios países a volver a imponer medidas restrictivas, sumado a la falta de información clara sobre los requisitos de entrada aún siguen afectando la reanudación de los viajes internacionales. Sin embargo, los programas de vacunación en todo el mundo, junto con restricciones más suaves para los viajeros vacunados y el uso de herramientas digitales como el Certificado digital de la UE o el IATA Travelpass están contribuyendo a la normalización gradual.
Positive numbers
A report presented today by IATA reveals a global recovery in air travel during July, supported by the increase in vaccination levels and the desire to travel during the northern hemisphere summer.
RPKs (an indicator that measures how much you enter for each passenger) fell 53.1% compared to July 2019, a solid improvement over the 60.0% reported in June. This is the highest month-on-month growth since November 2020.
All regions contributed to this improvement, but Europe (64.2%), North America (-64.1%) and Latin America (-66.3%) stood out. The Middle East closed the month of July at -74.5 and Asia Pacific at -94.2.
Global seating capacity showed an upward trend in July to accommodate the slow increase in passenger demand. ASK (seat availability per kilometer) decreased by 45.2% compared to July 2019, marking an advance over the -51.6% registered in June 2021.
Regionally, European airlines showed the highest capacity growth (+ 26% MoM) although their ASKs are still about half their pre-crisis levels. The recent reopening of intra-European borders has been vital in boosting the recovery since May.
The most encouraging data is that at the domestic level, capacity reached almost 90% of pre-pandemic levels. Most of the key domestic markets saw capacity growth compared to June.
An industry-wide passenger load factor (PLF) was reached 73.1%, -12.4 percentage points less than July 2019. The domestic market continues to significantly outperform the international, which is consistent with a faster recovery of domestic demand. Regionally, North American airlines reported the highest load factor at 84.1%.
