Many countries announced the opening of borders, and world tourism and travel will resume before the epidemic
Although Omicron is still raging in many countries, the travel industry is moving forward and showing a rebound trend. Global travel and tourism is expected to return to pre-pandemic levels this year as more countries announce plans to reopen their borders.
On February 3, the European Union News Agency reported that since the [UK] Prime Minister announced the cancellation of some restrictions related to the new crown virus in England, [Finland] Prime Minister Marin also announced that all new crown epidemic restrictions will be lifted in mid-February. According to previous reports, the [European Union] suggested in January that member states should open their external borders to 14 countries, and the United States, Brazil, Russia, India and other countries were temporarily excluded. Denmark, with a vaccination rate of 81%, has become the first EU country to lift all epidemic restrictions, while Morocco announced that it will reopen to tourists on February 7. On February 1, local time, the Prime Minister of [Norway] announced that the government will relax the epidemic prevention restrictions on the new crown virus, and tourists to Norway will no longer need nucleic acid tests when they arrive in Norway.
Even the "prudent" [New Zealand] has decided to gradually ease restrictions nearly two years after enforcing some of the world's toughest border restrictions. New Zealand Prime Minister Ardern said recently that the border will be gradually opened at the end of February and will be fully reopened no later than October. Likewise, nearly two years after closing its borders, [Australia] said it would open its borders to all vaccinated travelers on February 21, while unvaccinated travelers could apply for a travel waiver and would need to quarantine.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said countries' plans to open up were "very welcome". "The Asia-Pacific region has been very cautious about border restrictions, but there has been a clear trend in the Philippines, Thailand and New Zealand to ease travel restrictions in recent weeks," said Philip Ng, vice president of the Asia-Pacific region for the International Air Transport Association.
According to reports, [the Philippines] plans to reopen its borders to international tourists from February 10 and resume visa-free entry to the UK, US, South Korea, Australia, and others. Entrants must also be fully vaccinated and must have a negative PCR nucleic acid report within 48 hours.
"We remain optimistic that 2022 will be a better year for international travel, especially as we reopen our borders," said Philippine Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente. "Hopefully international tourism will pick up little by little. Momentum.” The Philippines is said to receive just 1.4 million tourist arrivals in 2021, down from 3.5 million in 2020 and 8.3 million in 2019.
The World Travel and Travel Industry Council (WTTC) said the global travel and tourism industry will recover better from the pandemic this year, potentially taking in $8.6 trillion in revenue, just 6.4% below pre-pandemic levels. Does this mean that people's travel will return to normal? Hans Kruger, the World Health Organization's regional director for Europe, said on the 3rd that Europe may be about to enter a "long period of calm", while other places are also expected to gradually recover from the epidemic.
