BRUSSELS - Leaders of Europe's coronavirus-stricken travel and tourism industries have appealed to the EU's chief executive to press governments to end quarantine requirements and instead embrace coordinated restrictions and testing.
The appeal came as data from airports' group ACI Europe, one of the signatories to the Sept. 17 letter, pointed to a"double-dip" air traffic slump, with passenger numbers down 73 percent in the first two weeks of September, after a 65 percent decline in August. But with Covid-19 cases rising, governments are reluctant to drop more drastic restrictions and quarantines - condemned by the industry as disproportionate to the risks of travel within a region where community transmission is already widespread.
"Failure to fully implement the Commission's proposal would kill any chances of a potential recovery," the travel industry bodies wrote to von der Leyen.