Regional tourism umbrella body ‘sitting on fence’ on vaccine mandates

While the tourism industry’s national umbrella body continues to push for the mandatory vaccination of workers, the regional body – the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA), which represents over 30 regional member associations – said Friday it has not yet taken a position on the matter.

But the CHTA’s most recent survey has revealed that more than half of industry players across the region are in favour of mandatory vaccination of all employees.

And while the World Travel and Tourism Council is encouraging industry operators not to make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory for travellers, regional tourism-related businesses are also split on the issue of vaccine requirements for visitors.

The Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA), which represents over 100 direct tourism operators, has been calling on the Mia Mottley administration to make it mandatory for all industry workers to be vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus, citing concerns about mass cancellation by guests who were concerned that some workers had not taken the jab.

Presenting a summary of the September 2021 survey during the CHTA’s annual general meeting, First Vice-President Nicola Madden-Greig said she is encouraged that the vaccination rate in the tourism industry continues to outpace national rates across member states.

The survey, which represents the views of close to 200 tourism businesses across the region, revealed that 56 per cent of employers believe workers in travel and tourism-related businesses should be vaccinated, while 28 per cent said they do not support mandatory vaccine for all employees.

“So in essence our industry is split on whether we should have a mandatory vaccination policy or not. It is also split on whether mandatory vaccination should be in place for travellers,” said Madden-Greig.

“So we are looking at the strong sentiments that are coming up from the industry both internally and from the international travel tour operators and travel advisors to guide the CHTA’s position. Our current position is one of a non-mandatory vaccination policy for travellers, but of course, we strongly encourage vaccination because we think that it is key to us returning to normalcy.”

Madden-Greig, who was promoted to the position of CHTA President during the meeting after Pablo Torres stepped down, reported that some 33 per cent of employers report 100 per cent of their employees are vaccinated, 20 per cent said between 75 per cent and 99 per cent of employees were vaccinated and 15 per cent reported that less than 10 per cent of their employees have taken the jab.

She said: “59 per cent of employers report not mandating employees to be vaccinated while 41 per cent require vaccination”.

“Those not requiring vaccination most cited legal challenges and personal choice as the factors in their decision. So this is a split in terms of mandate persons and non-mandate. But the important thing is whatever strategy our members have been employing is that we are seeing a great pick up in vaccination.”

She said the survey revealed that two-thirds of employees (66 per cent) are requiring vaccination for new hires, and 33 per cent of employees require periodic testing for unvaccinated staff members.

The remainder do not require periodic testing, with most of them citing issues associated with high cost, high vaccination rates as well as their ability to have strong health and safety protocols in place.

The research, which is the fourth in a series since March 2020, revealed that tourism players want more consultation with authorities on the health and safety measures and greater participation at the local level in the decision-making process on those health and safety matters.

Madden-Greig said while the recovery outlook for most businesses in the sector had improved, vulnerabilities still exist.

She said: “The industry vaccination rates are encouraging but still insufficient. So we will continue to advocate and communicate to our members how we can ensure we ramp out our vaccination efforts.”

She also noted that greater efforts were needed to drive guest compliance with health and safety protocols.

Madden-Greig said the next steps for the CHTA, which represents some 300 member associations,  include a revisiting of member interest in bulk purchasing of COVID-19 antigen test kits; assessing the impact of vaccine mandates for travellers by jurisdictions issuing those mandates; beefing up of health and safety protocols compliance; stepped up industry efforts to improve employee vaccination rates; and consultation with stakeholders, such as airline, tour operators and travel advisors, for views on mandatory vaccination for travel.