As Restrictions Wane Travel Vigilance Still Counseled | Business Travel News

When it comes to navigating the maze of requirements and
recommendations around international travel, a single map often can lead to a
dead end.

Joe Metallo, global travel services and general risk manager
with Argonne Labs, witnessed this firsthand on a trip to Italy. Following
guidance of the U.S. State Department and his travel management company, he
knew that, being fully vaccinated against Covid-19, he was allowed to enter the
country. Once there, however, he realized that “fully vaccinated”
meant that the most recent dose had been administered within six months. He saw
on a train an Italian customer who had received a full dosage but no booster
within the past six months escorted off and not permitted to reboard. He later
learned that hotels also were turning away guests who were not up to date on
their vaccinations.

“I could imagine a foreign national in that situation,
where they were stuck and couldn’t get back on the train,” Metallo said
during a recent Business Travel Show America panel. “[You can see] what is
required, but sometimes it’s disjointed between what’s required to enter and
what you can do when you’re there.”

Getting too focused on entry requirements and overlooking
return requirements is another common mistake, said Spencer Brace, head of
growth strategy for meeting location analysis platform Troop. He saw a traveler
at a recent event who had met the requirements to enter a country but didn’t
realize they had a quarantine requirement when they returned home.

Of course, there is no shortage of resources providing this
information for travelers, said Robert Reynolds, chief technology officer for
travel management company Adtrav. Online booking tools provide multiple sources
of information, most airlines spell out entry requirements, and third-party
data sources also monitor it, aggregating data from governments and other
resources around the world. Still, there’s the risk of employees seeing
outdated or contradictory information.

“There are plenty of sources that have sprung up, but
it’s fluid, and it’s up to the sources to keep up,” Reynolds said.
“They’re not going to be perfect.”

As such, a manual effort remains “absolutely
necessary” in keeping up with restrictions, Metallo said, particularly for
multinational travel programs with travelers who have different citizenships
and are traveling from different countries of origin. Sometimes, travelers end
up erring on the side of caution, which means they might be taking and paying
for tests that are not necessary.

“I’d rather have spent the money on a test than find
myself in a situation where I can’t enter a country and have to
quarantine,” Metallo said.

The confusion is compounded further in that requirements
also can change quickly, as Brace saw on a recent event in South Africa that
occurred a few days after the country lifted PCR Covid-19 testing requirements
for entry. With the close timing, travelers were unsure whether that news would
spread across the travel ecosystem. Even if no test was required, would the
staff throughout the journey be aware of the change, or would there be
friction? Fortunately, the carrier—Virgin Atlantic—sent a message prior to
travel alerting of the change, which eased the mind, Brace said.

Whatever system a company has in place, the key is making
sure they are aware of requirements as early in the process as possible,
Reynolds said.

“Travelers don’t like to be surprised,” he said.
“If there’s something the traveler or is required to do, making sure they
see that early in the workflow is critical.”

As Governments Lift Restrictions, Corporates Create Policies

At this point, even with Covid-19 rates still going up in
some parts of the globe, the larger trend, at least in Western countries,
continues to be loosening, not tightening, restrictions, International SOS
senior operations manager Tom Watson said. The aforementioned vaccination
requirements in Italy, for example, since have expired. Even so, there remains
a gap between guidance and requirements, with health agencies recommending
varying levels of caution where travel is allowed. As such, companies are
setting their own policies above and beyond the hard requirements for travel.

At Argonne Labs, for example, travelers going to countries
with State Department warnings of Level 3 or Level 4—which take into
consideration factors other than Covid-19—must meet with the travel team for
additional guidance in order to travel, Metallo said. Other companies might mandate
pre-departure testing for travel even if not compulsory if the traveler would
be required to test for the return trip, so as to lower chances of getting
stranded or quarantined.

To that end, Covid-19 is becoming just a part of the overall
risk assessment that can be put in place for any global travel, Watson said.

In the end, however, some of the burden still will have to
fall on the individual traveler to make sure they have the most up-to-date
information on requirements. But Reynolds said regular communication is
essential to keep traveler confidence boosted.

“It’s making sure they have the multiple sources of
information and that it’s as thorough as possible,” Reynolds said.
“It’s very important that it feels like the organization cares about the
process.”