IATA Says the World Is Finally Reopening Its Borders for Travel – SchengenVisaInfo.com – SchengenVisaInfo.com

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IATA Says the World Is Finally Reopening Its Borders for Travel – SchengenVisaInfo.com  SchengenVisaInfo.comRead More

Since COVID-19 has already entered its endemic phase, the reopening of borders and the easing of travel restrictions has begun, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) says, applauding the move to open borders by many world governments.

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IATA’s latest study of travel restrictions for the world’s 50 major air travel markets, which account for 88 per cent of international demand in 2019, revealed growing accessibility available to vaccinated travellers, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

In a press release issued on March 17, Thursday, IATA announced that 25 markets that in 2019 experienced 38 per cent of the overall travel demand have declared open to travellers and without quarantine measures or test requirements.

“38 markets representing 65 per cent of 2019 international demand are open to vaccinated travellers with no quarantine requirements—up from 28 markets (50 per cent of 2019 international demand) in mid-February,” the statement also reads.

In this regard, IATA Director General Willie Walsh said that the news about increasing momentum towards reopening borders and easing travel restrictions shows that the destinations that have reopened will receive a much-needed economic boost from the upcoming Easter and North Summer travel seasons.

“Asia is the outlier. Hopefully, recent relaxations including Australia, Bangladesh, New Zealand, Pakistan, and the Philippines are paving the way towards restoring the freedom to travel that is more broadly enjoyed in other parts of the world,” he noted.

IATA also revealed that the riskiest trip from COVID-19 restrictions remains in Asia.

In terms of international traffic, North America and Europe recovered to -42 per cent of their peaks in 2019 last year, while traffic in Pacific Asia remained at -88 per cent.

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This easing of measures has taken place upon evaluations that travel restrictions such as border closures, or even quarantine do very little to control the spread of COVID-19.

In addition, a previous report by OXERA and Edge Health concluded that travel restrictions could delay the peak of a wave by only a few days after seeing the spread of the Omicron variant in Europe.

Passenger surveys conducted by IATA during the pandemic have shown that testing, especially quarantine, are the main barriers to travel.

In a statement issued on March 10, IATA announced that in an effort to stop the spread of the Omicron variant and due to travel restrictions imposed, the recovery of air data in January 2022 compared to December 2021 has slowed down for both domestic and international air travel.

Meanwhile, the total demand for air travel has increased in January 2022 by 82.3 per cent compared to January 2021, but compared to the previous month, December 2021 has decreased by 4.9 per cent.

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