The Asia Pacific Travel Retail Association (APTRA) has aligned itself to an extended network of associations across Asia Pacific pushing governments to adopt risk-based approaches to reduce quarantine measures.

A group comprising the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA), Airports Council International (ACI), the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and APTRA has written an open letter calling on governments in the region to implement ICAO guidance.

This concerns recommendations in ICAO’s Testing and Cross-border Risk Management Measures Manual, a risk-based assessment tool for programmes aimed at reducing quarantine measures that are widely viewed as a hurdle to international travel.

The letter, which is addressed to ministers in the fields of health, transport, tourism, interior and foreign affairs responsible for managing different aspects of the Covid-19 pandemic, calls for governments to embrace a ‘calibrated, multi-layer risk strategy’ including testing for pax and the possible lifting of quarantines at travel destinations.

ICAO’s recommendation of replacing quarantine with testing for travel between low-risk locations is exemplified by the quarantine-free air travel bubble between Hong Kong and Singapore.

MILLIONS OF JOBS AT RISK

The latest development builds on APTRA’s recent campaign directed towards more than 45 governments in Asia Pacific.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore announced yesterday that the launch of the much-anticipated bubble will now be delayed beyond December, with the exact start date to be reviewed in mid-December after being originally suspended days before its launch on 22 November amid a spike in Covid-19 cases.

APTRA says the first-of-a-kind bilateral arrangement is a clear example of an approach that balances the risk of virus transmission with the need to re-establish international travel based on mutually agreed approaches to testing.

The ICAO manual provides clear guidance on how to limit the use of quarantine dependent on a country’s risk tolerance and transmission threat, with the group maintaining that a cross-departmental approach is urgently required to deliver regional coordination mechanisms to overcome the unprecedented damage to the travel and tourism sectors.

Quoting figures from the Air Transport Action Group, APTRA suggests that an estimated 46 million jobs are at risk due to the closure of international borders and travel restrictions imposed due to the crisis.

The air transport sector accounts for 3.1% of Asia Pacific GDP and supports nearly 50 million jobs.

Sunil Tuli, President of APTRA said: “The number of jobs identified at risk in travel and tourism in APAC is a stark reminder of the increasingly urgent need to safely re-open borders and to re-establish global connectivity. Travel and tourism is a complex, inter-dependent ecosystem and it’s an extremely important industry in Asia Pacific. One that has been instrumental over recent decades in enhancing quality of life for many communities with the acceleration of literacy, education, career advancement and helping alleviate poverty, especially in developing countries.

“Although APTRA has the needs of our members front and central to our mission, we also recognise the issues facing the communities around us and our inter-dependency with other aspects of travel and tourism.  We believe it is essential for us as a trade association to look beyond our own backyard in travel retail and to amplify the power of the collective voice by joining forces with other relevant associations.”