Journal of Tourism & Hospitality
Open Access

Guidelines for Resuming Travel During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Posadzinska Iwona^{* *}Correspondence: Posadzinska Iwona, Department of Tourism and Hospitality, University of Wroclaw, Wroclaw, Poland, Email:

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Description

COVID-19 has affected 28.04 million people, resulting in 906,092 deaths in 216 countries as of September 11, 2020, according to the World Health Organization. As a respiratory virus infection, transmission occurs through direct or indirect contact, typically through droplet spray in a short range or aerosol in a long range. To avoid respiratory droplets produced while talking, sneezing or coughing, various international health government agencies, such as the centers for disease control and prevention and the World Health Organization, recommend a safe distance of 6 feet between people. Droplets larger than 5 m have a shorter life in the air and travel a shorter distance. Only if everyone wears face masks to prevent the spread of the virus in aerosolized droplets, according to the study, is a distance of 6 feet considered safe.

A coronavirus can survive in the air for up to three hours and on plastic or steel surfaces for up to 72 hours. The virus can also travel great distances in air conditioning systems or persist in high-contamination settings, such as hospitals. The virus was discovered to be widely dispersed in the air and on surfaces in an area up to 3.94 meters or 13 feet, according to a study conducted in hospital wards. To reopen international travel, governments must reevaluate their public health policies to allow for enhanced surveillance, tracking and containment of confirmed cases, patient management, treatment and support infrastructure, among other actions required to reduce the incidence of cases and deaths. The United States and Brazil currently lead the world in the number of confirmed cases. Both countries ignored the scientific evidence from the initial studies, failing to implement preventive and protective strategies that could have significantly reduced the number of cases and deaths.

Unfortunately, the Brazilian federal government handled the COVID-19 issue carelessly, enhancing the signal that it is a common and treatable disease. As a result of this situation, several countries, including Brazil, will keep their borders closed in order to receive citizens from countries with an unspecified epidemiological situation for COVID-19. This situation could last for a long time because the country still lacks an effective public health policy to combat COVID-19. The use of quarantine is one method of allowing travelers from these regions to enter, however only those with a lot of money will be able to comply with this rule. We emphasis that several travelers, despite being citizens of these restricted nations, have dual citizenship, which allows them to travel freely to countries that inhibit certain countries and regions.

The implementation of mandatory quarantine, including the monitoring of personal mobile phones and online social networks to verify social isolation, online medical and psychological counseling during the isolation period, and fines for violating travel quarantine rules, among other measures, may reduce the risks of COVID-19 importation. Although there are several COVID-19 treatment candidates, none have been approved. There are no vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, but a vaccine certificate may be required at border controls in the future. The introduction of visas with pre-approved itineraries at this time may be an important preventive measure for surveillance in the event that a traveler tests positive for COVID-19, as well as protecting the destination regions and travel facilities from disclosure.

Another important tool is the testing of travelers when they arrive at a destination. The results may allow the screening of travelers who arrived by the same transport, thereby avoiding the high transmission of COVID-19 that may occur at the border control. Therefore, protective measures, such as social distance are mandatory to avoid further dissemination of the virus. In addition, other ‘safety experiences’ may become a quality aspect for travelers’ decision making in the future, even with the treatment availability for COVID-19 or an effective vaccine. Another important method is testing visitors when they arrive at a destination.

The findings may allow for the screening of travelers who arrived by the same mode of transportation, avoiding the high transmission of COVID-19 that could occur at border control. As a result, protective measures such as social distance are required to prevent the virus from spreading further. Furthermore, even with COVID-19 treatment or an effective vaccine, other ‘safety experiences' may become a quality factor in travel decisions in the future. In order to ensure traveler safety, nations and tourism establishments must plan infectious disease surveillance and safety experiences based on scientific evidence. To avoid infectious disease, this must become a major public health policy priority.