TEHRAN – The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has announced blanket travel restrictions cannot stop new virus variants from spreading.

“When it comes to stopping the spread of new virus variants, blanket travel restrictions are simply counterproductive,” according to UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili.

“In fact, by cutting the lifeline of tourism, these restrictions do more harm than good, especially in destinations reliant on international tourists for jobs, economic wellbeing, and sustainable change.”

The announcement welcomed the call of sister UN agency World Health Organization (WHO) for restrictions on travel to be lifted or eased.

In relation to wide-ranging global responses to Omicron variant, WHO has endorsed that restrictions on travel are not effective in suppressing the international spread, UNWTO reported.

As mentioned by a WHO committee,  measures applied to international travelers such as testing, isolation and quarantine, and vaccinations, should be based on “risk assessments and avoid placing the financial burden on international travelers following Article 40 of the IHR”.

“UNWTO welcomes WHO’s new guidance, highlighting the ineffectiveness of blanket travel restrictions, and we also amplify their recommendations against using vaccination status as the sole condition for welcoming tourists back, especially when vaccination rates remain so uneven,” Pololikashvili added.

Moreover, the United Nations World Economic Situation and Prospects Report for 2022 has predicted that in both developed and developing, recovery from the impacts of the pandemic is “uneven and fragile”.

AFM