Will “green passports” help recover Vietnam’s tourism industry? (Photo: Vietnamplus)
In order to reach the “new normal”, “green passports” (also known as COVID-19 vaccination certificates) are considered a solution to help resume all economic activities, including tourism.
Is vaccination really a “talisman”?
On July 1, the European Union (EU) issued digitally-recognized COVID-19 vaccination certificates in its 27 member states as well as in Switzerland and Norway. When crossing a border, citizens need only scan a QR code to be exempted from quarantine or inspection.
Many European Union (EU) member countries have also exempted people from nearly 20 countries on a “safe list” if they have tested negative for COVID-19, even if they have not completed their vaccinations. Therefore, in some countries, vaccination against COVID-19 is not entirely a “talisman” for the reconnection of air travel.
People in Ishoej, Denmark, receive vaccinations. (Photo: AFP/VNA)
The World Health Organization (WHO) is yet to issue any specific standards to develop global “vaccine passports”.
However, if countries want to soon apply “vaccine passports” as a safe solution, more than 200 governments will need to find agreement about recognising them.
According to experts, the full resumption of disrupted flights around the world will take months or even years, but international travel has a chance to restart sooner as blocs like the European Union (EU) and the Group of Seven (G7) are creating their own standards for recognizing vaccinated travellers.
In particular, countries, including China and Japan, are also developing independent “vaccine passport” platforms. The two countries also want to negotiate tourism corridors with other countries on a bilateral basis.
In the future, if countries were to recognise one or more digital document systems known globally, particularly when the pandemic is brought under control, this would create more favourable conditions for people to travel around the world, paving the way for the tourism industry to recover.
To prepare for that future, a global “vaccine passport” system has been recognised by some groups, including the International Air Transport Association, the Commons Project, and IDEMIA, a multinational technology group from France.
The acceptance of a global health certification system is very important for many countries in the Asian region, where large numbers of people rely on tourism for their livelihood and have been hit hard by the Delta variant.
Many European countries, which currently have a vaccination rate of more than 60 per cent, have already opened their doors to tourists, such as France, Germany, Austria, and Sweden. They have applied similar certificates, like the European Union (EU) Digital COVID Certificate (EUDCC), or allow the use of the European Union (EU) Digital COVID Certificate for travel within the European Union (EU) and Schengen area.
Members of the Tourism Advisory Council emphasised that those granted a “green passport” should not only include people who are fully vaccinated but also those who have recovered from the virus or who tested negative within 72 hours prior to travel, even if they have not completed their vaccinations.
Members of the council have said that the Viet Nam Government needs to negotiate with countries around the world to recognize the country’s “green passport”.
According to experts, the tourism industry should propose the Viet Nam government assign the task of researching, piloting, and synchronizing “green passports” to a particular ministry or industry as the focal point.
It is worth mentioning that this passport must be truly “green”, providing benefits to everyone and ensuring convenience for users in order to help recover economic activities as well as the tourism industry./.
