James Liang both an economist and entrepreneur, shares his thoughts on current events, their effects on the travel industry, and how technology can help alleviate some of these issues, specifically an app that acts like an 'electronic passport' with a Health Code.

These opinions are his own, and do not necessarily reflect those of Trip.com Group Ltd. as a whole).

Countries and regions all over the world have elevated their response to the COVID-19 novel coronavirus, imposing travel bans and cancelling events, bringing the economy to a standstill. In China, however, where the first lockdowns were implemented in late January at an estimated economic cost of around RMB100 billion per day, the virus has been effectively contained, businesses have resumed operation, and life is returning to normal.

In early February, when China implemented blanket bans on travellers, I argued for a more precise means of identifying at-risk persons for infection who had travelled to affected areas, like Wuhan.

Mobile phones have an important role to play – they are an integral part of peoples’ lives, and we take them literally everywhere we go. Telecommunications operators thus have the best grasp on where a person has travelled to, at what time, and for how long.

While keeping this important data secure and private, operators could work with governments and leading mobile Internet companies across the world to develop an electronic ‘passport’, and provide more precise epidemic prevention guidelines. With the ‘passport’ generated by this app, governments could, in a fluid and timely fashion, set travel, isolation and preventative regulations (like, the requirement to wear a mask) with view to the developing situation in each region.

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