Coronavirus: Travel bosses back ‘no jab, no fly’

Australia’s peak travel and tourism bodies are backing Qantas chief Alan Joyce’s controversial mandatory vaccination stance.

Australian travel bosses are backing calls for all international passengers to be vaccinated. Christian Gilles

Australia’s peak travel and tourism bodies are backing Qantas chief Alan Joyce’s controversial call for all international passengers to be vaccinated before they can fly, despite growing opposition to mandatory vaccinations.

The move to compel immunisation for travellers has been opposed by some rival airlines and by global tourism body the World Travel and Tourism Council, which claims any such rules would amount to “discrimination” and destroy tourism.

“I don’t think governments will require vaccination next year for travel. If they do that they will kill their sector,” WTTC chief Gloria Guevara said last week.

But local travel and tourism bodies are strongly supportive of the no jab, no fly policy.

“I’d be happy to say that really we applaud the Qantas leadership on this issue in nominating a vaccine as a prerequisite to travel,” said Peter Shelley, managing director of the Australian Tourism Export Council.

“We’ve always been very strong on the concept of offshoring the COVID risk, with pre-testing prior to departure also … a really critical component,” he told The Weekend Australian.

“There’s not going to be one ­silver bullet; it’s going to be having layers — maybe rapid testing on arrival (and) still some small amount of quarantine that gives us all confidence that we have a COVID-safe travel process in place.”

The Australian Tourism Industry Council also supported the move. “I think it’s a pretty fair call,” said ATIC’s Simon Westerway. “I think the reality is when international travel returns to Australia we’re going to expect that visitors to our country or returning Australians, if they’re able to have the vaccination, they will have it.

“It’s a layer of protection. The reality is that levels of assurance are going to have to be higher.

“Compulsory vaccinations will be a driver to help get international flying moving again, in and out of our country,” he said.

Qantas is pushing ahead with its plans, saying it has a duty of care to its staff and passengers.

“I acknowledge some people are opposed to vaccines in-principle and we respect that,” Mr Joyce says. “But in return, we ask everyone who travels on Qantas and Jetstar to respect our safety protocols — which will include a COVID vaccine for international flights, at least until the pandemic is under control overseas.”

Exemptions would be permitted for legitimate medical reasons, he said.

Qantas says it has done surveys showing that 87 per cent of passengers would have a COVID-19 vaccine if it was required to travel internationally. The company has received legal advice that it can enforce the policy.

The federal government is understood to be leaning towards compulsory COVID-19 vaccinations for all travellers but would not directly address questions from The Weekend Australian on the issue. It has previously said there “may be circumstances where the Australian government and other governments may introduce border entry or re-entry requirements that are conditional on proof of vaccination”.

Mr Joyce said he had talked to the chief executives of other international carriers who were also considering making vaccination mandatory for travel.

But some airlines have already rejected the policy. A spokesperson for Lufthansa told The Weekend Australian: “The introduction of a mandatory vaccination certificate for air passengers is not planned … at this time.”

The world body representing airports also opposes mandatory vaccinations. “Just as quarantine effectively halted the industry, a universal requirement for vaccines could do the same,” said ACI World’s Luis Felipe de Oliveira.

The World Travel and Tourism Council claimed the Qantas move amounted to discrimination against the young.