KUALA LUMPUR, March 10 — The International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) latest poll reveals that people are becoming more confident to travel, with the majority believe that they will be more likely to travel once vaccinated.
Director-general and chief executive officer Alexandre de Juniac said about 57 per cent of the respondents expect to be travelling within two months of the pandemic being contained, while nearly 40 per cent reported mental stress and missing an important human moment as a result of travel restrictions.
“It is becoming clear that we will need to learn to live and travel in a world that has Covid-19.
“Given the health, social and economic costs of travel restrictions, airlines should be ready to reconnect the world as soon as governments are able to reopen borders,” he said in a statement Wednesday.
De Juniac said there are some headwinds in travel trends and the survey shows that about 84 per cent of travellers would not travel if it involves quarantine at the destination.
There also indications that the pick-up in business travel would take time with 62 per cent of respondents saying they are likely to travel less for business even after the virus is contained, he said.
“People want to get back to travel, but quarantine is the showstopper.
“As testing capacity and technology improves and the vaccinated population grows, the conditions for removing quarantine measures are being created and this points us again towards working with governments for a well-planned reopening as soon as conditions allow,” he added.
— Bernama
