AusLeisure

Qantas Chief Executive, Alan Joyce has suggested that governments around the world will insist on Coronavirus vaccines for travellers when international borders reopen.

In an interview with the BBC, Sydney-based Joyce advised that "governments are going to insist" on vaccines for international travellers as "a condition of entry".

And with Coronavirus vaccines seen as crucial to reviving an industry that saw worldwide passenger numbers fall 75.6% last year, Joyce suggested that if governments don’t demand vaccinations airlines should enforce its own policy.

In an interview broadcast as part of the Talking Business with Aaron Heslehurst program, Joyce advised “we have a duty of care to our passengers and to our crew, to say that everybody in that aircraft needs to be safe”, which he believes would justify changing the terms and conditions under which tickets are booked.

Feeling that passengers would be willing to accept the change, Joyce commented “the vast majority of our customers think this is a great idea - 90% of people that we've surveyed think it should be a requirement for people to be vaccinated to travel internationally."

However, Joyce (pictured) is mindful of influential voices who disagree with his view, including the World Health Organization (WHO) officials.

The WHO Director of Digital Health and Innovation, Bernardo Mariano, told the BBC “we don't approve the fact that a vaccinations passport should be a condition for travel."

Even with vaccines, Joyce thinks that "once we open up our international borders, we're going to have the virus circulating and that's going to be a big change for a lot of Australia, to find that acceptable.

"We need people to understand they can't have zero risk with this virus. We manage risk in so many different other ways for other parts of life."

The lack of passengers means that in the last six months of 2020 Qantas lost $1.03 billion, compared to a profit of $771 million in the same period of 2019.

The pandemic has also seen 8,500 job cuts from a pre-pandemic staff of about 29,000 with many of the remaining staff on furlough

Alan Joyce was interviewed on Talking Business with Aaron Heslehurst on BBC World News.

Related Articles

20th March 2021 - Industry Panel formed to chart Queensland tourism industry recovery

19th March 2021 - Australian tourism adds 58,000 jobs since June 2020

19th March 2021 - 2021 Australian Tourism Exchange to return as hybrid event in June

11th March 2021 - Suspicions that Federal Government’s $1.2 billion tourism stimulus package targets marginal constituencies

11th March 2021 - Federal Government’s tourism package includes six-month extension of Zoos and Aquarium program

22nd March 2021 - New Zealand Government plans for revised tourism sector post COVID vaccination

18th March 2021 - A third of global gym members unlikely to return to clubs after COVID vaccine

16th March 2021 - Organisers limit ticket sales for Bahrain Formula 1 Grand Prix limited to vaccinated and COVID-19 recovered fans

15th March 2021 - Qatar offers COVID-19 vaccinations to the MotoGP paddock

12th March 2021 - Vaccinations will determine ‘return to normal’ after COVID

10th December 2020 - Australians look forward to introduction of COVID-19 vaccine

23rd September 2020 - Qantas ends 30-year Rugby Australia sponsorship deal

30th August 2019 - Qantas to end promotion of attractions featuring captive cetaceans

24th February 2018 - Tourism’s high achievers recognised at 2017 Qantas Australian Tourism Awards

26th October 2017 - Qantas’ Alan Joyce acknowledged for backing gay marriage

6th February 2016 - Qantas Australian Tourism Awards recognise industry excellence

6th February 2021 - WTTC says governments should abandon notion of ‘high-risk countries’ and instead focus on ‘high-risk travellers’

20th January 2021 - WTTC predicts over 100 million global tourism jobs could be recovered during 2021

17th April 2020 - WTTC commends global tourism industry for helping during COVID-19

17th March 2020 - Coronavirus impact puts up to 50 million jobs at risk across global tourism

6th August 2020 - World Health Organization says large crowds for sporting events are unrealistic this year

12th June 2020 - World Health Organization advises people to wear masks in public areas

31st January 2020 - Coronavirus declared global health emergency by World Health Organization

---

Support our industry news service
We hope that you value the news that we publish so while you're here can we ask for your support?

As an independent publisher, we need reader support for our industry news gathering so ask that - if you don't already do so - you back us by subscribing to the printed Australasian Leisure Management magazine and/or our online news.