After several months of rigid testing with Singapore Airlines, IATA is on the brink of rolling out its Travel Pass, projecting that it will go live in the next few weeks.
This comes as countries that are looking to open their borders will have to manage and verify the secure flow of necessary testing or vaccine information among other governments, airlines, laboratories and travellers, and avoid the risk of fraudulent paper certs.
“People want to travel. However, the long-term solution to reopening borders to and reducing quarantine requirements will be a combination of testing and vaccination,” said Conrad Clifford, IATA’s regional vice president, Asia Pacific.
The IATA Travel Pass incorporates four open sourced and interoperable modules which can be combined for an end-to-end solution.
The first module covers a global registry of health requirements, which enables passengers to find accurate information on travel, testing and eventually vaccine requirements for their journey.
The second covers a global registry of testing / vaccination centres, enabling passengers to find testing centres and labs at their departure location which meet the standards for testing and vaccination requirements of their destination.
The third module takes in the Lab App, which enables authorised labs and test centres to securely share test and vaccination certificates with passengers.
Lastly, the Contactless Travel App enables passengers to create a digital passport; receive test and vaccination certificates that meet the regulations for their itinerary; and share testing or vaccination certificates with airlines and authorities to facilitate travel.
Aside from merely providing verification, the IATA Travel Pass can also be used to manage travel documentation digitally throughout a passenger’s journey, which may enable biometrics and contactless travel in the long-term, after the pandemic is over.
So far, IATA’s regional director, airports and external relations, Vinoop Goel, has confirmed that both airlines and governments globally have been receptive to the app.
It also helps that the app can be integrated with the airline’s own app, making it more convenient and seamless for a passenger. Airlines that are in the process of trialling include Emirates and Qatar, with Air New Zealand set to join the list.
Meanwhile, IATA is also in talks with governments to work on a global framework and standardisation of verification across borders.
Clifford added: “We are confident that governments and airlines will adopt a mechanism to ensure verification of Covid-19-related health. IATA is aiming to create a global standard, and we hope that others will use the same framework (so that there won’t be too many differing digital health verifications across countries).”
When asked about data privacy, Goel stated: “IATA does not have a central database holding passenger information, as (an individual’s) information stays on the app. The passenger is in control of their data and can choose who to share it with. Users can also delete their data anytime on the app.”
As for costs, IATA has reiterated their stand to keep costs to a minimum in the implementation of the Travel Pass, as the association understands that airlines are currently facing cashflow issues.
As the pandemic laid its claim between 1H2020 to 2H2020, what did crisis management look like for Swire Hotels? How did your concerns evolve as well?
Thailand is in trouble. The economy is shrinking, unemployment is rising and tourism is crumbling. According to data released by Thailand’s Ministry of Tourism and Sports, foreign visitor arrivals are down 83 per cent from 2019. Any hope of a quick rebound evaporated in late 2020 with a fresh outbreak of Covid cases, triggering a new round of lockdowns and more business shutdowns.
Mercure Brisbane and ibis Brisbane will shed their labels to join the IHG Hotels & Resorts family as voco Brisbane City Centre and Hotel Indigo Brisbane City Centre respectively.
Both hotels will undergo extensive refurbishment.
voco Brisbane City Centre, which will overlook the Brisbane River and some of the city’s best cultural institutions, promises to bring the brand’s vibrant, reliably fun vision to life. Besides refreshed guestrooms, the hotel’s bar will get a complete makeover and boast sweeping river views. It will open in late-2021.
Slated to welcome guests in 2022, Hotel Indigo Brisbane City Centre will bring the essence of the neighbourhood into the guestrooms, restaurants, meeting facilities, design and service offering. The hotel’s restaurant, bar and café will be completely reimagined.
The opening of these hotels signals strong growth in the Brisbane market for both Pro-invest and IHG Hotels & Resorts, sitting alongside Pro-invest’s Holiday Inn Express Brisbane Central, which opened in 2017, and Hotel X, which IHG and Pointcorp are opening in the Fortitude Valley precinct in February 2021.
Abhijay Sandilya, IHG’s vice president, development – Australasia, Japan & Pacific, said: “We are absolutely delighted to build our presence in Brisbane with the signing of two of our most colourful, dynamic and boutique brands. The personality that will be injected into the properties is going to be quite unlike anything the city has seen and we’re incredibly excited to bring the community on the journey with us. With a prime CBD location that puts both hotels within walking distance to everything the city has to offer, voco and Hotel Indigo Brisbane are undoubtedly going to be the hotels of choice for both leisure and business travellers.”
Jan Smits, Co-CEO of Pro-invest, said: “The location of these two hotels couldn’t be better for business and leisure travellers. With the power of the IHG distribution and loyalty systems, coupled with rich and exciting brands, we are confident that guests will enjoy all that these hotels have to offer.”