The need to comprehend tourism activity from an ethical perspective became particularly relevant in the context posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has profoundly impacted the sector. That is so because it has disclosed multiple social consequences for the tourism industry. Therefore, focusing on health passports, the present article focuses on how international mobility restrictions and initiatives aiming to restart tourism challenge the idea of justice. This way, through a theoretical framework based on Rawlsian distributive justice and Nussbaum's capabilities approach, this article provides conceptual tools to identify potential unfair factors disclosed by tourism policies. At the same time, the capabilities approach also allows for the transformation of the comprehension of tourism activity beyond a mere economic sector. On the one hand, it allows presenting tourism as an agent for social transformation. And, on the other hand, it also permits identifying and sketching potential strategies to transform tourism into an agent for better societies. Thus, the present work aims to increase awareness of the political dimension of tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]