Tours and Attractions Pursue New Hygiene Regimes to Coronavirus Recovery

Clean is the new sexy for tourism stakeholders around the world as more countries and destinations look to ease coronavirus lockdown restrictions in the coming days and weeks. With the belief that heightened hygiene standards will be a priority for nervous travelers when international borders open up, a raft of post-pandemic cleaning and sanitation protocols aimed at protecting the health of guests and staff have been revealed by major hotel chains and airlines in recent weeks. These new hygiene regimes range from Marriott's hospital-grade electrostatic sprayers to meal delivery robots at Asia hotels, and in the latest Hilton has announced plans to collaborate with RB, the maker of Lysol and Dettol, and consult with Mayo Clinic to roll out its own heightened cleaning standards.

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At the same time, the coronavirus pandemic has also forced many tour, activity and attraction operators to gear up for a new norm and ramp up their cleaning protocols and hygiene protocols. Health Screening for Attractions Unlike the highly regulated restaurants, hotels or cruise ship sectors, what’s clearly missing in the wake of the global health crisis are sanitation standards defined for the tours and activities segment, said Jon Peahl, a travel industry veteran who was Tiqets.com’s Asia Pacific regional director until the coronavirus outbreak struck off his position earlier this year. The gap in hygiene certification in the tours and attractions sector led Peahl,