UNWTO Recommends Responsible Use of Travel Certificates

COVID-19 certificates for international travel must be free, universally available and non-discriminatory. They must also be limited in time and use, the World Committee on Tourism Ethics has recommended.

As some countries work to welcome back visitors and restart tourism, the Committee met to assess the implications health certificates might have on tourism ethics. As an independent and impartial body of the General Assembly of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), it concluded that such certificates can be compatible with ethical tourism, though their use needs to be proportionate, measured and responsible.

The Committee members, drawn from tourism sector leadership, academia and international organizations, adopted the Recommendation on COVID-19 Certificates for International Travel, the product of a series of consultations with experts and stakeholders from around the world. Pascal Lamy, Chair of the Tourism Ethics Committee said: “We hope that this recommendation will provide a global ethical framework that will aid the much-needed recovery of tourism.”

Citing the principles of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism and the related Framework Convention on Tourism Ethics, the Committee also recommended that “vaccines should not form part of vaccination holiday packages and must remain a global public good”.

Recommendation on COVID-19 Certificates for International Travel