IATA Condemns EU's Travel Restrictions On U.S. Visitors

Posted by Lanre Aerodove on September 01, 2021 in COVID-19 Foreign News Travels | Comments : 0

The International Air Transport (IATA) has condemned the travel restrictions imposed on U.S visitors by the European Union governments and urges the EU council to quickly reverse the decision.

IATA said that the EU council should have at least allowed the fully vaccinated passengers from the United States to enter the zone without the need to quarantine.

According to the Director-General of IATA, Willie Walsh said” “As governments rightly urge their populations to be vaccinated, governments need to be confident in the benefits they bring—including the freedom to travel. At a minimum, those who are fully vaccinated should be free to move without restriction.”

The US travelers were on Tuesday banned alongside visitors from Israel, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Lebanon from entering the EU zone for non-essential traveling due to the high rate of coronavirus infections.

The EU council however published the names of the new countries added to the list of countries that are allowed to enter the EU. The countries are Albania, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Japan, Jordan, New Zealand.

Also included on the list are Qatar, the Republic of Moldova, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, South Korea, and Ukraine.

The association through one of its addresses in May 2021, “IATA supports unrestricted access to travel for vaccinated travelers. In cases where vaccination is not possible, access to quarantine-free travel should be provided through COVID-19 testing strategies based on widely available, free-of-charge tests.”

Deputy Director-General Conrad Clifford stated that “The DCC was delivered in record time to help facilitate the reopening of EU states to travel. In the absence of a single global standard for digital vaccine certificates, it should serve as a blueprint for other nations looking to implement digital vaccination certificates to help facilitate travel and its associated economic benefits.”