Europe mulling reopening to tourists from US

AFP

American tourists could soon be visiting continental Europe again, more than a year after the European Union restricted travel to the 27-nation bloc to a bare minimum to contain the coronavirus.

EU officials said on Monday they are completing plans to allow Americans back this summer, depending on the course of the outbreak on both sides of the Atlantic.

The European Commission, EU’s executive arm, will make a proposal soon to its member states but didn’t say when exactly leisure travel could resume or whether a reciprocal approach will apply to Europeans wanting to visit the United States, which has closed its doors to tourists from the continent.

Also, it was not immediately clear whether all US tourists would have to produce proof of vaccination for entry, or whether a negative test for the coronavirus or proof of recent recovery from COVID-19 would be acceptable instead.

“These are among the questions we’ll still need to figure out,” said European Commission spokesperson Adalbert Jahnz. He added the executive body is hoping to restore trans-Atlantic leisure travel “as soon as it is safe to do so.”

On Sunday, The New York Times quoted Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as saying that fully vaccinated Americans will be able to visit EU countries this summer since all coronavirus vaccines used in the US have also been approved by the EU’s drug regulator, the European Medicines Agency.

“This will enable free movement and the travel to the European Union,” she said. “Because one thing is clear: All 27 member states will accept, unconditionally, all those who are vaccinated with vaccines that are approved by EMA.”

With more than 15 million Americans a year visiting Europe before the crisis, the prospect of US travelers once more flocking to such attractions as the Eiffel Tower, the canals of Venice or Germany’s Brandenburg Gate is welcome news for the continent’s hard-hit tourism industry.

EF Go Ahead Tours, a Boston-based company that offers small group tours to Europe and elsewhere, said it expects demand to be extremely high once Americans can visit Europe again.

When Iceland reopened its borders earlier this month, bookings surged, and most summer tour dates are now sold out, the company said. Over the last month, as more Americans got vaccinated, the company also saw double-digit growth in European tour reservations for dates in 2022 and 2023.

The International Air Transport Association, a trade group that represents 290 airlines in 120 countries, applauded the news.

“This is a step in the right direction,” IATA General Director Willie Walsh said in a statement. “It gives hope to people for so many reasons — to travel, to reunite with loved ones, to develop business opportunities or get back to work.”

The group said people who test negative for COVID-19, not just those who get vaccinated, should be allowed to travel. IATA also said it is critical to develop globally recognized standards for vaccine certification. The association is among groups testing a vaccine passport system.

Last week, the US State Department urged Americans to reconsider any international travel they may have planned. It issued specific warnings not to visit roughly 80 percent of the world’s countries, including many in Europe.