Health and safety will be to COVID what security was to 9/11, says the head of the US Travel Association – a man who has been on the scene for both crises. Roger Dow sees a similarity in both the current coronavirus pandemic and the 2001 terrorist attacks in terms of the effects on the travel industry, though he points out that the long-term travel-related economic impact of COVID-19 is projected to be nine times worse than 9/11.
“As travel reopens, travellers need the confidence that safety measures are in place from their departure to their return home,” Dow says, adding that in the travel sector’s post-COVID “new normal,” health and safety will not only be a high priority, but a game changer for everyone in the industry.
“After Sept. 11, security became the new normal – you don’t go into an airport, you don’t go into a large venue without many, many layers of security,” says Dow.
Now, current and near-future protocols like mask-wearing may “evolve” and may not be necessary “at a certain time,” but he assures, “Health and safety and medical advice will be at the forefront of everything we do, from large facilities to moving people.”
He predicts, for example, that “there’s going to be a new class of executive at hotels – health and safety officer. It will be scientific, it will be people coming out of the medical professional that will actually end up working for large organizations as medical advisors.”
The USTA this week laid the groundwork for the future with the release of a document listing “vigorous measures” that US travel-related businesses will implement to keep both their customers and employees safe. Dubbed “Travel in the New Normal,” the guidelines focused on six main areas, ranging from employee practices to sanitation and technological solutions, health screening measures, best food and beverage practices, and protocols to follow should an employee test positive for COVID.
Dr. Michael D. Parkinson, past president of the American College of Preventive Medicine, is hopeful that the new post-COVID normal will also trickle down to individuals who will feel a sense of “shared responsibility” to live healthier lives, which he says “is actually the immune system’s best defence” against infectious diseases.
From cutting down on smoking and drinking to increasing exercise and reducing stress, Parkinson says there is more to defeating COVID and other diseases than simply putting on a mask and social distancing.
The hospitality industry has taken a “major step forward” in helping define what the new normal will be, Parkinson says, but he adds, “We have to be healthier as people. I think it is a new day.”
But whether on a personal or corporate level, Roger Dow says that COVID has changed everything. “The new normal,” he says, “is that health and safety will be with us in the future – at least for as long as I can see it.”
Related: US Travel unveils post-COVID road map