An update from the Travel Safety Panel

Hello industry friends & colleagues,

We all want to be safe, especially when we travel either domestically or internationally, and travel safety as a talking point has been seen as one of the main priorities since the rise of tourism in general. The current pandemic has only further heightened its importance to the traveller and travel businesses alike, and will no doubt play a hugely important part in shaping future decision making for planned trips and for developing itineraries with safety in mind. The aim of the Travel Safety Panel is to represent this topic in the broadest way, linking the travel safety, insurance services and child protection sector and play an overarching role in guiding the other sectors on best practices, awareness, support and tools.

As a Panel, we represent a number of safety sectors and expertise, established over a significant period of time within the travel industry. In light of current industry discussions, the Panel recently shared its thoughts on the introduction of digital health passports, which display a person’s COVID-19 vaccination record when travelling, combined with the demand for travel and the opening up of international borders and the implications when countries won’t recognise or accept such passports.

Additionally, the Panel have recently undertaken to contact all the members within the travel safety sector. Our aim was to touch base, catch up on a broad range of topics and ask about the safety issues affecting their businesses and clients. Our vision is to get a clear view of the main concerns of the membership, with regard to health and safety standards, insurance coverage, travel advice, protection of young travellers, plus more.

Travel safety is a broad and far reaching topic and we’d like to ask for your help. We’d like to open the conversation to a broader group and hear from WYSE members about the issues, needs and expectations as they relate to travel safety. We’d like to understand how we can help you and how we can help affect and have a voice around the opportunities and challenges that members see in the youth, student and educational segment. We’d like to invite you to share your ideas and contribute to our work by sending us your input via the contact form at the foot of this page.

As a Panel, we meet bi-monthly and engage in lively conversation from all over the globe. We’re represented in Canada, Costa Rica, Germany and the UK, and of course, through our colleagues at WYSE in the Netherlands. Please do feel like you can get in touch and we’d welcome any comments, feedback or questions.

Best,
Nick Pound
Chair of the Travel Safety Panel
Strategic Partnerships, World Nomads