The pandemic has had a great negative impact on the tourism sector and in the face of the summer season, Parliament is calling for measures to guarantee safe travel. For this, common criteria for travel, a unique vaccination certificate and a hygienic seal for companies are proposed.
Undoubtedly the tourism sector has been one of the hardest hit after the pandemic. After a complex year and with the advancement of vaccination worldwide, Europe is preparing for its summer season. The Chamber approved last Thursday, March 25, with 577 votes in favor, 31 against and 80 abstentions, a resolution on the community strategy for sustainable tourism. The text emphasizes that the pandemic has paralyzed the tourism sector and has endangered six of the twenty-seven million jobs in the sector.
Given the changes that the pandemic has caused in the tourism field, the European Parliament (EP) affirms that it is essential to be able to generate safe, clean and more sustainable tourism. In this regard, MEPs call on Member States to apply common health criteria to ensure safe travel without delay. These should include a protocol for pre-departure testing and leave quarantine as an instrument of last resort. Likewise, it is argued that a common vaccination certificate should facilitate travel and serve as an alternative to PCR tests and quarantine. They also emphasize that this system must respect privacy and data protection rules and warn that before implementing it, evidence is necessary as to whether vaccinated people can transmit the virus.
The EP also urges the Commission to introduce an EU hygiene certification seal, ensuring compliance with minimum standards for the prevention and control of coronavirus and helping to restore consumer confidence in the sector. tourism and thus contribute to its revitalization.
They also recommend that the Commission look beyond the pandemic and update the 2010 tourism strategy to maintain Europe’s position as a destination of choice. Finally, the text proposes the creation of a European tourism agency, to support the tourism ecosystem, promote the Europa brand, ensure the availability of recent data on tourism, assist small businesses to access European funding and help the sector prepare in the face of future crises. Finally, along the same lines, MEPs consider the portal useful Re-open EU and they ask the Member States to inform the Commission about restrictions on free movement when they change them.
Cláudia Monteiro de Aguiar, A member of the European Parliament, she concluded: “We call for a European effort to boost tourism in the most affected regions of the continent. The vaccination certificate and the hygiene seal are already in place, but what we need now is authentic coordination on testing, so as not to impose additional costs on European citizens. The EU needs to accelerate vaccination and enable adequate financial instruments for the digital and green transition ”.
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