Since the pandemic, certain terms and phrases are in heavy rotation around the industry. Some words, like social distancing and lockdown, we’ll be happy to never use again. But others, like digital health pass, have landed permanently in the business travel lexicon. Here we present seven COVID-19 related travel terms that every travel manager should know.
COVID-19 Information Hub – A BCD Travel resource to help keep travelers safe in today’s heightened risk environments. This tool houses real-time information on constantly changing rules, laws and procedures for traveling during the pandemic. The COVID-19 Information Hub features: country risk levels and requirements; hotel and airline information, including cleaning protocols, testing requirements, necessary health certifications, quarantine rules and more; information detailing vaccination percentage complete by population by country; information included for airlines participating in digital health document trials; and multi-language functionality.
Digital Health Pass (DHP) – Electronic identification solutions being developed by technology firms, airlines, international organizations and governments to help travelers navigate the complexities of the new rules and regulations associated with travel. As fully functioning apps, DHPs also act as an information source and means of communication for all parties involved in travel. BCD Travel advises the use of the term digital health passes, rather than passports, as this is the term used by most of the companies developing them. Further, the term passport implies that their use will be confined to crossing borders, while digital health passes are likely to have applications beyond international travel.
Digital health pass offerings are still a relatively unknown entity to many, but the value that they offer on the path to safe travel is clearly understood by business travelers. That’s the view shared by a panel of 844 business travelers BCD Travel surveyed during the second half of February 2021.
Participants ranked DHPs 4th on a list of measures they needed to get back to travel, preceded by vaccinations, easing of lockdowns and on-trip testing. Interested in learning more from our research?
Duty of care – A legal requirement and reasonable obligation of a person or organization to keep people safe. Duty of care was the No. 1 priority for travelers and companies surveyed by BCD Travel Research & Innovation in September 2020. As travel recovers, the decision to take a trip should consider traveler wellness, risk mitigation and cost. A duty of care strategy that combines those factors is far more equipped to support company goals, even in the face of unexpected challenges.
Good Health Pass Collaborative – An initiative representing corporate clients’ interests in pushing for the standardization and scalability of digital health passes (DHP). DHPs are being developed by technology firms, airlines, international organizations and governments with the aim of validating the authenticity of a traveler’s COVID-19 test results or vaccination records. BCD is the first Travel Management Company to join the Collaborative and its mission to help support business travel’s recovery.
Government health passes – Governments are independently making plans to launch their own digital vaccination passes, recognizing that people will need easily accessible certificates to gain access to activities and services within a destination. These may also be referred to as vaccine certificates, vaccination passports, vaccine passports, COVID status certificates. It’s important to differentiate government health passes from DHPs, which can be used to demonstrate someone has been vaccinated or has developed sufficient antibodies after contracting COVID-19.
Track & Trace apps – Applications, services, and systems that identify and notify persons who come into close contact with someone who has COVID-19. They are a prerequisite for accessing facilities and services in some countries. The apps are also mandatory during on-arrival quarantine in some countries.
Travel corridors – Bilateral agreements allowing international travel between destinations with travelers subject to reduced restrictions and typically no need for quarantine of any duration. Travel corridors seem most common in Asia, while many other countries have a multilateral approach, categorizing countries using a traffic light or similar scoring system.
Check out our Back to Travel guide for help assessing your program strengths. Then, talk to your program manager to plan for the road ahead. Not a BCD client? We’re ready to help.