As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes, although official decisions are yet to be made at the level of the Euripean Union and the national governments of its member states, Croatia will almost certainly not ask tourists to be vaccinated against the novel coronavirus, but visitors will most likely need a current PCR test in order to enter the country. Additionally, in order to make tourists feel as safe as possible, a new national safety label is being launched in the conditions of the ongoing pandemic called Safe Stay in Croatia.
As has been unofficially learned, the sector itself, the Ministry of Tourism and the Croatian Tourist Board are all working together on the new label, and all activities are to be done in accordance with the protocols of the World Tourism Council (WTTC).
The new label, for which all actors in the hospitality and tourism industry will be able to apply, will be presented to the public in a few weeks, and will be accompanied by very detailed protocols in all segments of the tourism business – everyone from apartments to hotels to those in nautical tourism will once again receive very detailed instructions on what is to come in terms of future Croatian tourism.
The new label will very soon start being communicated in marketing messages in domestic and foreign markets. With the advent of the coronavirus vaccine, which will be available to wider segments of society in the coming months, there has been a wide debate globally on how we can use the vaccine and apply it in the tourism sector, which has been the most affected segment of the economy during this pandemic.
Within the EU, there hasn’t yet been an official debate on the subject, and the first to raise the issue of vaccinated tourists are the Greeks, who in 2020 had a drop in tourism revenues of more than 10 billion euros. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has thus proposed the establishment of a vaccination certificate against coronavirus at theEU level. Greece has already created its own standardised certificate proving that an individual has been vaccinated. According to the ideas of the Greeks, the EU certificate could be used when entering all forms of transport.
“Although we won’t make vaccination mandatory or a precondition for travel, those who have been vaccinated should be able to travel freely,” the Greek prime minister said in a letter.
There are other approaches, and Israel will do everything it can to vaccinate as many employees in the Israeli tourism sector as possible, also with a desire to give additional security to their guests. The Israelis aren’t yet commenting on whether they will ask tourists to arrive in the country already vaccinated against the virus, and so far the country has managed to vaccinate as much as 20 percent of its population.
Globally, there is nobody heading in the direction that the vaccine serves as a travel pass, at least at the WTTC level which is perceived as a strong authority in the sector and in this pandemic. WTTC Executive Director Gloria Guevarra was very clear the other day and explained why she opposes the idea of vaccinating against the novel coronavirus as a condition for travel.
“If we go in that direction, we go in the direction of discrimination, and tourism cannot do that,” said the head of the organisation. A ban on unvaccinated people would have a dramatic effect on traffic itself, as it would limit travel to entire generations who will be the last to be vaccinated. Children and young people make up a huge number of the world’s tourists, and this should include the family they travel with.
The WTTC established security protocols and the Safe Travels label, an international safe travel label, as early as last May. Croatia received this label back in August, and the year 2020 ended with a total of 200 countries bearing the label “Safe Travels”. The label and protocols were created primarily to restore passenger confidence in a year in which travel and contacts posed a health risk, and the WTTC believes the goal was largely achieved despite a number of travel restrictions that continue to remain in place. New issues and situations in the travel industry are appearing almost day by day as the pandemic develops and wanes.
While Croatia is recording a slightly better situation these days and future Croatian tourism is something we can now dare to imagine, ithe situation is still very serious in other European countries. Germany doesn’t believe that it is possible for a German return to the Croatian market before the Pentecost in late May, the Austrians have discovered that the British brought a new strain of coronavirus to the ski resort in Tyrol, and the British are fighting a new strain, as well as the rather embarrassing woes of Brexit.
Precisely with the aim of preventing the third wave of the ongoing pandemic in Croatia, the National Civil Protection Headquarters made a new decision restricting unnecessary travel to Croatia, especially from countries where a new strain of coronavirus is spreading, such as Great Britain and South Africa.
The list of these countries will be adopted by the Croatian Institute of Public Health, and special epidemiological measures will be applied to passengers from these countries, said the Chief of Staff Davor Bozinovic at a press conference recenrly, explaining that the decision is not related to citizenship but to the country from which a person is coming. Passengers from these countries must show a negative PCR test which is no older than 48 hours when entering Croatia and will have to undergo 14 days of isolation.
”At the moment, Great Britain and the Republic of South Africa are on that list,” said Bozinovic. He added that their quarantine could be reduced to seven days if they perform a PCR testing in an authorised institution and if the test returns a negative result.
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