May 12 - The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) which represents the global Travel & Tourism private sector has unveiled a range of new worldwide measures to restart the sector.

The measures have been designed to rebuild confidence among consumers so they can travel safely once the restrictions are lifted.

The new Safe Travels protocols provide consistency to destinations and countries as well as guidance to travel providers, operators, and travellers, about the new approach to health and hygiene in the post COVID-19 world.

The health and safety of travellers and workers is put at the heart of the new global protocols, which have been drawn up by WTTC Members. Based on the best available medical evidence, following guidelines from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), they also avoid the emergence of multiple standards, which would only delay the sector’s recovery.

Evidence from WTTC’s Crisis Readiness report, which looked at 90 different types of crises, highlights the importance of public-private cooperation to ensure that smart policies and effective communities are in place to enable a more resilient Travel & Tourism sector.

WTTC, is devising the new Safe Travels protocols following close consultation with its Members, as well as industry associations like Airports Council International (ACI), Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA), to bring confidence back and set clear expectations of what travellers may front in their next trip.

These will apply across the main industries within Travel & Tourism including hospitality, aviation, airports, cruise operators, retail, transportation, MICE and tour operators amongst others.

Detailed discussions are taking place with key stakeholders and organisations in each industry within the sector to ensure maximum buy-in, alignment and practical implementation, with hospitality and retail guidelines being released today.

The WTTC initiative has been backed by top CEOs and business leaders from across the Travel & Tourism sector.

WTTC has divided the new guidance into five pillars including restarting operations; ensuring the traveller experience is safe and secure; rebuilding trust and confidence; innovation; and implementing enabling policies.

Measures being announced include:

 

Hotels/Hospitality

Key measures include:

• Revisit guidance for cleaning teams for all areas of the hotel with a specific focus on high-frequency touch points, such as room key cards
• Ensure social distancing for guests through signage and guidelines including lifts
• Retrain staff in infection control, social distancing and enhanced hygiene measures, including hand washing and the use of masks and gloves
• All extraneous items should be removed throughout the hotel
• Integrate technologies to enable automation, such as introducing contactless payments where possible
• Offer room service using no-contact delivery methods
• Have clear, consistent and enhanced communication with customers on new health and hygiene safety protocols, both digitally and physically at hotels
• Safe reopening of Food and Beverage outlets and Meeting and Events spaces with specific actions to ensure social distancing, disinfection and food safety

 

Retail

Key Measures include:

• Deep cleaning regimes
• Staff should be fully familiar and trained in the new policies, including social distancing, the use of thermal scanning and the wearing of face masks
• Social distancing should be observed in stores through special visual markers
• Minimise touch points by introducing digital maps, digital queue management, e-menus, virtual personal shopping and roving concierges
• Promote contactless payments and email receipts wherever possible by providing complimentary WIFI to encourage take up
• Hand sanitisers at shop entrances and exits, as well as at intervals inside premises and in bathrooms.
• In cafes, restaurants and other food outlets, all menus to be available digitally
• Special attention placed to seating and queue management in line with social distancing requirements
• Capacity limits should be introduced in retail car parks to prevent overcrowding

 

Additional and separate measures for the Aviation and Cruise sectors are still in development and will be announced in due course.

Both sectors, which have always had high health and safety standards, are reassessing their protocols, with new measures around hygiene, deep cleansing and social distancing being analysed.

According to WTTC’S 2020 Economic Impact Report, during 2019, Travel & Tourism was responsible for one in 10 jobs (330 million total), making a 10.3% contribution to global GDP and generating one in four of all new jobs. View the report here. For more information, please visit wttc.org.

 

 

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