WTTC responds to the newest suggestions from the EU
- Julia Simpson, President and CEO of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), made a statement saying, “Protecting public health must remain a priority and the WTTC strongly supports safety protocols to prevent the spread of COVID-19 to stop.
- However, the EU’s recommendation to reinstate restrictions on US travelers is a step backwards and will only slow the sector’s recovery.
- “Given the high vaccination rates in both the US and the EU, we should open up travel between these two major economies.
The WTTC CEO added:
We need a common set of rules that recognizes global vaccines and makes quarantine superfluous for people with a negative COVID result.
“The US is an important source market for the many EU Member States such as France, Italy, Germany and Ireland, and tourism will be vital to restoring normal life and tens of thousands of jobs in both the US and the EU .
“Instead of imposing further harmful travel restrictions, the EU should encourage member states to use their groundbreaking digital COVID certificate to safely restore international travel, which is fundamental to the European economy.”
The European Union suspended all major travel for American visitors for three days due to the surge in new COVID-19 infections in the United States.
Portugal, a member of the EU, today stepped back from EU rules and announced that it will continue to welcome American tourists.
