The European Tourism Manifesto alliance, a body representing 60 organizations, is calling on national governments to agree on harmonized travel restrictions.
Last week, the European Commission proposed a coordinated approach to travel restrictions in place because of COVID-19, to help the recovery of economies across Europe.
In a statement the alliance points to hotel occupancy rates of 26.5% in July while top destinations including France, Germany and the U.K. welcomed 40% of the volumes for intra-European travel compared to 2019.
The organization wants governments to approve a number of measures including:
- Establish common criteria and thresholds around the risk of the virus including a consistent colour-coding scheme.
- Put in place common measures for departure to and return from risk areas.
- Replace quarantine with testing and tracing.
- Avoid blanket restrictions in favor of more targeted measures.
- Ensure contact tracing apps in the EU can work with each other.
The alliance also repeats calls for continued financial support for the tourism sector so that the industry can rebuild.
The latest research from the World Travel and Tourism Council shows that every 2.7% increase in travel flows results in one million jobs.