Representatives of a number of business associations from the tourism industry ask that the members and personal from the field should be included in the second stage of vaccination against COVID-19. In a letter to the authorities, the Tourism Industry Employers Association of the Republic of Moldova says that at most 2,500 persons will need to be immunized, IPN reports.

The associations say that the global epidemiological situation evidently affected the activity of the tourism industry and some of the activities involving physical presence were moved to the online or hybrid format. “At the same time, being responsible for a strategic area with a direct impact on the economic development of the country, namely the attraction and service of investors and foreign tourists in the Republic of Moldova, facilitation of export of services and promotion of tourism, a set of duties and actions cannot be fulfilled efficiently online,” says the letter addressed to the acting director of the National Public Health Agency Vasile Gushtiuc, who is the secretary of the National Extraordinary Public Health Commission.

According to the associations, the immunization against COVID-19 would ensure credibility, confidence and safety among potential investors and tourists who make working visits within the Tourism Industry Employers Association or its members, or contact the Front Desk personnel of the institutions, including flight crews and flight attendants of national airlines, employees of the Chisinau International Airport, of hotels and tourist pensions, guides, etc.

The Tourism Industry Employers Association of the Republic of Moldova represents the Tourism Development Association of the Republic of Moldova, the National Association of Travel Agencies, the Ecological Association “Biotica”, the Association of Tourist and Hotel Pensions “Cheia Satului”, the Association “Rural Renaissance”, the Inbound Tourism Associations of the Republic of Moldova and others.