As restrictions slowly but surely ease, Tracey Poggio, ANTOR chairman, offers a round-up of the ways in which ANTOR members are proactively retraining to prepare for the reopening of travel.
As the industry discovered the details of the UK Government roadmap for international travel last month, ANTOR members from each of the different travel lists have continued briefing trade and media with updated product news and current entry requirements through innovative online training sessions. We all look forward to the re-opening of international travel in a safe and sustainable way.
While many questions still remain around vaccination certificates, testing and quarantine requirements, providing accurate product information to the trade is at the forefront of destination marketing. All member updated destination information can be found at at ANTOR?S website, but here we straw poll the work of some of our members who are actively preparing themselves for the return of the international traveller.
Since June of 2020, the Montserrat Tourism Division has engaged in a series of industry training initiatives for its tourism stakeholders, including taxi operations, housekeeping, cruise destination preparedness, customer service and packaging of souvenir items. Over the next 4 months the Division will facilitate workshops in tour guiding, use of social media and managing sites and attractions. The tourism agency is finalising a travel agents/tour to be launched in the summer.
Grenada and its sister islands Carriacou and Petite Martinique remain open and ready to safely welcome visitors, once UK restrictions ease. With user-friendly entry requirements and the Pure Safe Travel inspection and accreditation scheme, visitors to the tropical paradise islands this year will find a warm welcome. Travel trade online training continues.
Croatia has recently launched the ?Safe stay in Croatia? project, a web platform that provides information about the health and safety measures that are in place across the tourism sector in Croatia during the coronavirus pandemic. Travellers are informed on what they can expect during their time in Croatia and also see which Croatian businesses have the ?Safe Stay in Croatia? label, which serves as a designation of adhering to all local protocols.
Meanwhile, the addition of ANTOR members Iceland, Israel and Gibraltar to the Green List has prompted increased interest for this summer. Undoubtedly, over the coming weeks we will get to hear more from our member countries on how they are preparing for reopening and the travel trade will be able to use the knowledge from their training programmes to get ready for the incoming season.
Agents interested in current product training should head to the ANTOR website and ANTOR training portal to find a full range of recorded training webinars. ANTOR wishes all of our fellow member countries and industry partners its full support as we move to restart international travel.
For a full list of updates, visit www.antor.com
