A new Destination Tracker developed by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) aims to guide travellers (and travel counsellors) through the complex quagmire of COVID measures affecting tourism by enabling governments and organizations to easily communicate and aggregate the latest necessary information when travel resumes.

Available for free, the online tool is designed to boost confidence and accelerate recovery of the tourism sector when borders reopen by covering COVID-19 indicators, travel regulations, and destinations through progressively uploaded, expanded, and updated information from official sources as the COVID-19 situation evolves.

Available on the website of both the organizations, the UNWTO-IATA Destination Tracker will provide information on:

• Infection rates, positivity rates, and vaccination roll out by destination/ country.

• Air travel regulations, including test and quarantine requirements, provided by IATA’s Timatic solution.

• Destination measures, including general health and safety requirements, such as use of masks, transit through a country, curfew, or regulations related to restaurants and attractions, provided by national tourism organizations.

Governments can use the Destination Tracker to post COVID-19 travel information so that potential travellers will know what to expect at their destination. When fully populated with updated destination information, travel stakeholders including Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) and travel agencies, will be able to obtain the latest destination information, enabling travellers to make informed decisions when borders reopen and travel resumes.

The UNWTO notes that “the situation for travellers is complex” with one in three destinations currently closed to tourists. Moreover, restrictions and in-country measures are continuously being revised.

“Travellers and companies will be able to check requirements in place for air travel, as well as what measures will be in place at the visited destination,” says says UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili. “We trust this tool is also critical for governments to track existing travel restrictions and support the safe restart of our sector.”

Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director-General adds, “It has been more than a year since the freedom to travel was lost as COVID-19 measures saw borders close. When governments have the confidence to re-open borders, people will be eager to travel. And they will need accurate information to guide them.”