A group of countries that have made progress in containing the coronavirus pandemic but whose economies are suffering after a monthlong shutdown are banding together in a bid to rebuild business ties and tourism among themselves.
The group—Australia, Austria, Israel, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece and New Zealand—is made up mainly of midsize and smaller countries, some with large tourism industries that could face devastation if foreign tourists stay at home this year.
By eventually reopening their borders to citizens from other countries in the group, they hope to alleviate some of the economic pain caused by the recent confinement while limiting the risk of a rebound in infection.
“Our countries reacted early and forcefully and now we are in a better position,” said Austria’s Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who initiated the alliance, last week after the group’s first—virtual—meeting. Members will meet every two weeks in videoconferences.
Among the group, the Czech Republic, Greece and Denmark imposed confinement measures early, often before the virus had made any serious headway in their territories.
Others, like Austria, were hit early in the pandemic but have since markedly slowed the rate of infections.
Their approaches have varied. Austria is using police investigators to help trace the contacts of infected people, and it is testing all residents and employees of nursing homes. Australia wants to ramp up testing to 40,000 a day. Israel and the Czech Republic are using mobile phone data to locate people who were in contact with an infected person.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz initiated the alliance.
Photo: bundeskanzleramt/ReutersIn a first step, the seven members want to harmonize policies aimed at preventing a relapse. Countries such as Singapore or Japan that had early success in containing the spread of Covid-19 cases have seen the disease resurface and infections gather speed after relaxing restrictions.
As a condition to opening trade and travel among them, the members could agree that all will adopt measures such as mandatory wearing of masks, mass testing, social distancing, and keeping borders closed to countries where the virus is still spreading rapidly, according to officials from several of the governments involved.
Walter Schachermayer, a mathematician who helped draft the Austrian government’s strategy, said the idea is to restrict the virus reproduction rate, or R, to less than R1, or else the pandemic would accelerate. With mandatory wearing of masks and other measures in place, countries that have significantly reduced the number of new infections would then be able to open their borders on a selective basis, he said.
“The success of the mix of measures applied in Austria so far gives us hope,” Mr. Schachermayer said.
The initiative drew criticism this week, especially from Europe. Four of the countries in the group are members of the European Union, where normally frictionless internal travel is frozen after governments shut their borders to combat the pandemic.
The bloc is working on a road map to reopen internal borders, which some officials now say could be undermined if members of the initiative lift travel restrictions among each other first. In practice, this could make travel between Israel and Greece easier than between Greece and Italy, at least for a while, a Greek government official said.
“We need common criteria in Europe about how to restore freedom of movement,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in an interview published on the ministry’s website. “A European contest of who allows tourist trips first will lead to unjustifiable risks.”
Others fear the initiative will create more friction within a bloc that is already straining over the question of how to share the economic pain from fighting the pandemic.
Germany was invited to the conference but refused to attend, according to officials from participating countries. Berlin extended a general travel advisory for the rest of the world on Wednesday until mid-June.
Mette Frederiksen, prime minister of Denmark, said last week the EU was a “very important framework, but I think this global alliance is very appealing because it brings together countries from all over the world.”
Economists say the initiative is unlikely to be an economic panacea for the participating countries as tourism between members won’t be enough to offset the lack of visitors from larger countries such as France and Germany.
The World Travel and Tourism Council has warned the Covid-19 pandemic could cut 50 million jobs world-wide in the travel and tourism industry. Global revenue for the travel and tourism industry for 2020 is expected to drop by 35% compared with the previous year to an estimated $447.4 billion, according to Mobility Market Outlook.
At their first meeting last week, the seven countries’ leaders also vowed to cooperate in building their domestic manufacturing capacities to reduce their reliance on countries such as China for items like virus test kits, face masks and future vaccines.
Tourism collapsed in Venice after the coronavirus outbreak in Italy.
Photo: Giacomo Cosua/Zuma PressWhile a timetable for the reopening of borders between members of the group isn’t set, officials said some could start welcoming travelers in the coming weeks. Accompanying measures could include common hygiene standards for airlines and airports, officials from several of the countries said. One suggestion would see travelers tested for Covid-19 infections before boarding.
In Greece, where tourism accounts for more than 8% of gross domestic product according to official statistics, the government plans to gradually reopen to visitors from selected countries after July 1. On Monday, Greece had only 15 new infections while the number of patients in intensive-care units dropped to about 40.
Alexis Patelis, economic adviser to the Greek prime minister, said the country’s success in limiting the number of cases could make it particularly attractive to foreign tourists concerned about their health.
Professor Markus Müller, rector of the Vienna Medical University and an adviser to the Austrian government, said the countries’ initiative could help them restore a degree of normalcy at home but only if authorities remained alert to any sign of a second wave of infection.
“If enough countries keep the disease under control we could be able to suppress the second wave on a global scale,“ he said.
Write to Bojan Pancevski at bojan.pancevski@wsj.com
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