VENETIANS CAN be credited with one significant intervention in the history of travel and one near miss. Disgruntlement over the constant din led them to consider a ban on wheelie-bags in Venice's alleyways in 2014, though it was never enacted. Seven centuries earlier the city pioneered the use of international borders to stop an infectious disease. The word quarantine is derived from a requirement for ships to anchor offshore for 40 days if plague was suspected. Perhaps inconvenient for ancient mariners, the impact on the travel business of attempts to keep covid-19 at bay has been greater. Efforts to restore confidence have accelerated moves to make travel more digital, contactless and seamless.
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