The Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) share price is edging higher, up 0.13%.
The ASX travel share rose strongly in morning trade, up 1.93% to $15.30. It has since fallen back to $15.08 at the time of writing.
Like all ASX travel shares, the Flight Centre share price tends to rise and fall on sentiment surrounding COVID-19.
With the delta variant ushering in renewed lockdowns across the eastern Australian states, investors are keeping a close eye on the mid-term outlook for reopening domestic and international borders.
With that reopening in mind, Flight Centre's CEO, Graham 'Skroo' Turner, points to the United Kingdom as offering the roadmap back to free travel.
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Vaccine passport rollout likely
Speaking from London to Scott Emerson on 4BC, Turner said the UK is on its way to rolling out vaccine passports.
As reported by 4bc.com, Turner said the UK's National Health Service (NHS) keeps a record of vaccinations along with an NHS COVID pass. He sees this course of action taking root in Australia and other nations.
According to Turner:
Yes, this is going to happen and it already has happened over here [in the UK] to some extent. Over here the NHS has effectively a record of your vaccination, there are various apps … that will collate different countries recording of it.
At the moment it's fairly dispersed and not uniform, but that will come. As you know now to travel freely into the UK, which you can come from many countries, all you need is to be fully vaccinated and a test before you arrive and two days after you arrive.
With the resurgent delta strain, the world is pinning its hopes on wide vaccination uptakes.
If Turner has this right, we'll all be asked to prove this with new vaccine passports to book our trips in the foreseeable future.
That may sound onerous. Or even a bit Orwellian. But if it sees the lifting of travel restrictions, most people will likely embrace the additional red tape to get back on a plane and head interstate or overseas.
When travel returns to pre-pandemic levels, it should add a welcome tailwind to the Flight Centre share price.
Flight Centre share price snapshot
The Flight Centre share price came under tremendous selling pressure following the outbreak of COVID-19 in early 2020.
But the past 12 months have seen the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) travel share outperform.
Its shares are up 50% compared to 24% for the ASX 200.
Year to date, the Flight Centre share price has struggled, down 5.75% in 2021.
