Over 80 per cent of professionals surveyed in a recent Flight Centre Travel Group poll support both domestic and international vaccine passports to help drive the #ArrivalRevival of business travel.
81 per cent of people surveyed said they support both domestic and international vaccine passports to open a return more rapidly to business travel, according to polling results just released by the corporate arms of the Flight Centre Travel Group (FCM, Corporate Traveller, Flight Centre Business Travel, and Stage and Screen).
Over 1,750 professionals across the LinkedIn channels of the four brands responded to the poll, with 81 per cent in favour of a domestic and international vaccine passport, and less than 10 per cent not in support of any passport initiative.
“Companies large and small form the backbone of the Australian economy and it’s clear that people overwhelmingly want a form of vaccine passport for business travel to really take off again,” said Flight Centre Travel Group Managing Director for Australia James Kavanagh.
“There’s no doubt vaccinations lead us down the path to freedom, but before those 70 and 80 per cent thresholds are met, corporate travel is somewhat grounded and people who’ve done the right thing by rolling up their sleeve should have the option to fly freely.
“We know there is a huge amount of pent-up demand for business travel and the desire to have face-to-face meetings is growing day-by-day. Virtual meetings still have their place and serve a purpose, but nothing beats that human interaction at a corporate and everyday level.
“Travel is critical for companies of all sizes as they look to win and retain new business, and for the retention of their staff. What they crave most is having that certainty to travel if their staff has done the right thing by being vaccinated.
“Interestingly, the results showed the support for a domestic-only vaccination passport was almost in line with no support at all, thus highlighting the desire for business travel to return at home and abroad to deal with that pent-up demand as soon as we possibly can.
“You just have to look at other nations across the globe to see how business travel volumes come storming back when you are either vaccinated or have a form of vaccination passport.”
People immunised against COVID-19 can now add a digital vaccination certificate to their Apple Wallet or Google Pay on smartphones.
According to a newly updated government webpage detailing the feature, Australians can access their digital certificate through the Express Plus Medicare app or online via my.gov.au.
Like other passes, tickets and coupons stored in Wallet, Australia’s COVID-19 digital certificate can be uploaded to iCloud and synced across all devices linked to a user’s Apple ID.
What are your thoughts on vaccination passports? Let us know, email editor@karryon.com.au.