IATA Lists Three Pandemic Lessons for Governments to Restore Public Confidence

According to IATA, the COVID-19 measures that were being kept in place by some governments collapsed global air connectivity and challenged the restart of global connectivity as some governments continue to favour local solutions over global standards.

Thus, it has been suggested that the governments start applying pandemic lessons to restore public confidence, AtoZSerwisPlus.com reports

“It’s vital to restore public confidence in government handling of health crises and border restrictions. Much of the damage was caused not by fear of the virus but fear of the sudden and arbitrary border restrictions imposed by authorities. Understanding the significant lessons from the pandemic will be crucial to managing future health crises in a way that ensures borders should not have to close again,” IATA’s Deputy Director-General, Conrad Clifford, said.

IATA explains that three key lessons have emerged from governments.

1. Evidence confirms that border measures are not an effective global strategy to control a pandemic. The World Health Organization long held that closing borders are not a solution to the health crisis, and evidence supports that view.

Research that was undertaken by OXERA/Edge Health showed that even if a new Coronavirus variant was discovered and travel restrictions were introduced immediately, this would delay the peak of infections by a maximum of four days.

2. The second lesson, according to IATA, is that governments should balance health measures with social and economic impacts. Even though the evidence for restrictions is not proven yet, the impacts of reduced air connectivity are clear. Therefore, it has been suggested that politicians balance the social and economic benefits of air connectivity against the need for travel restrictions.

The public understanding of the economic importance of air connectivity is high – 92 per cent of travellers agree that air connectivity is critical for the economy.

“We urge governments to listen to WHO advice on the need to keep borders open. And we are calling for independent research into the effectiveness of policies that balance health measures with the social and economic benefits of air connectivity, with a view to agreeing on a set of global recommendations for handling future health crises,” Clifford added.

3. Lastly, the third lesson is that travellers’ confidence requires logical rules and clear communication. Public confidence is highly affected by arbitrary rule-making as well as poor and oftentimes contradictory information.

Thus, to give the public greater confidence in the predictability of travel, it has been advised that governments adopt guidelines for how public health measures, once introduced, will be removed and simplify travel bureaucracy and paperwork with a common framework and mutual recognition.