Tourists, Rejoice! Italy, Greece Relax COVID-19 Restrictions

For travelers heading to Europe, summer vacations just got a whole lot easier.

Italy and Greece relaxed some COVID-19 restrictions on Sunday before Europe’s peak summer tourist season, in a sign that life was increasingly returning to normal.

Greece’s civil aviation authority announced that it was lifting all COVID-19 rules for international and domestic flights except for the wearing of face masks during flights and at airports. Previously, air travelers were required to show proof of vaccination, a negative test or a recent recovery from the disease.

Under a decree passed by Italy’s health ministry, the country did away with the health pass that had been required to enter restaurants, cinemas, gyms and other venues. The green pass, which showed proof of vaccination, recovery from the virus or a recent negative test, is still required to access hospitals and nursing homes.

Some indoor mask mandates also ended, including inside supermarkets, workplaces and stores. Masks are still required on public transport, in cinemas and in all health care and eldercare facilities.

As of Sunday, visitors to Italy also no longer have to fill out the EU passenger locator form, a complicated online ordeal required at airport check-in.

“It was needed,” said Claudio Civitelli, a Rome resident who was having his morning coffee at a bar near the Trevi Fountain. Until Sunday, patrons had to wear a mask to enter bars and restaurants, though they could remove them to eat and drink. “We have waited more than two years.”

At a nearby table, Andrea Bichler, an Italian tourist from Trentino Alto-Adige, sat with similarly maskless friends.

“It’s much better,” Bichler said. “Let’s say it’s a return to life, a free life.”

Public health officials say masks still remain highly recommended for all indoor activities, and private companies can still require them.

Even with the restrictions increasingly going by the wayside, public health officials urged prudence and stressed that the pandemic was still not over. Italy is reporting 699 cases per 100,000 inhabitants and is recording more than 100 deaths per day, with a total confirmed death toll at 163,500. But hospital capacity remains stable and under the critical threshold.

Given the virus is still circulating, “we should keep up the vaccine campaign, including boosters, and keep up behavior inspired by prudence: wearing masks indoors or in crowded places or wherever there’s a risk of contagion,” said Dr. Giovanni Rezza, in charge of prevention at the health ministry.

Italy was the epicenter of Europe’s outbreak when it recorded the first locally transmitted case on Feb. 21, 2020. The government imposed one of the harshest lockdowns and production shutdowns in the West during the first wave of the virus, and maintained more stringent restrictions than many of its neighbors in subsequent waves.

Austria To End Lockdown On December 12, But Not For Unvaccinated

BERLIN (AP) — Austria’s fourth national lockdown of the pandemic will end on Sunday but lockdown restrictions will remain for unvaccinated people, the country’s new chancellor said Wednesday.

Chancellor Karl Nehammer said the end of the lockdown will be a “opening with a seatbelt,” meaning some measures — such as an obligation to wear masks on public transportation and inside stores and public spaces — will stay in place also for people who are vaccinated or have recovered from COVID-19. There will also be an 11 p.m. curfew for restaurants and limits on the number of people attending cultural events.

Stricter measures can be implemented independently by regions that are especially affected by the pandemic, Nehammer said.

Nehammer stressed that unvaccinated people could end their lockdowns immediately by getting the jab, but also acknowledged that “it still takes a lot of convincing to get those who haven’t even been vaccinated yet.”
“The lockdown for the unvaccinated continues. I also understand that the people who are affected by it feel aggrieved,” Nehammer told reporters in Vienna. “At the same time, there is the offer of science, that by getting vaccinated these troubles can be quickly put aside and that then common freedom can actually be lived together.”

Austria has a relatively low vaccination rate for Western Europe, with just 67.7% of the population fully vaccinated. Tens of thousands have protested across the Alpine nation in recent weeks against the lockdown and the upcoming vaccine mandate.

The government announced last month that it would implement a vaccine mandate early next year and said Wednesday that details about the compulsory vaccinations will be presented later this week.

Under the lockdown, which started on Nov. 22, people were allowed to leave their homes only for specific reasons, including buying groceries, going to the doctor or exercising. Day care centers and schools remained open for those who need them, but parents were asked to keep children at home if possible.

The country’s seven-day infection rate declined by about half during the lockdown. It stood at 535.6 cases per 100,000 residents on Tuesday, down from more than 1,100 on the day the lockdown started.

Nehammer was sworn in Monday as Austria’s third chancellor in two months, capping a round of upheaval triggered by the decision last week of Sebastian Kurz, the country’s dominant political figure of recent years, to bow out of politics.

Nehammer, 49, has been Austria’s interior minister since early 2020. He also is taking over as leader of the conservative Austrian People’s Party, which Kurz led to election victories in 2017 and 2019.

Travelore Tips: Pandemic Travel Rules In Popular European Destinations

Europe is opening up to Americans and other visitors after more than a year of COVID-induced restrictions. But travelers will need patience to figure out who’s allowed into which country, how and when.

Meanwhile, the welcoming mood isn’t always mutual. U.S. borders, for example, remain largely closed to non-Americans.

Here’s a look at current entry rules in some popular European tourist destinations. One caveat: While these are the regulations as written by governments, travelers may meet hiccups as airlines or railway officials try to make sense of them.

FRANCE

If you’re vaccinated, come to France. But only if you got one of the four EU-approved vaccines: Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson. That works for Americans — as long as they can produce official proof of vaccination — but not for large swaths of the world like China and Russia where other vaccines are used.

France’s borders are officially reopened. Vaccinated visitors from outside Europe and a few “green” countries will still be asked for a negative PCR test no older than 72 hours, or a negative antigen test of no more than 48 hours. Unvaccinated children will be allowed in with vaccinated adults, but will have to show a negative test from age 11.

Tourists are banned from 16 countries on a red list that includes India, South Africa and Brazil.

Non-vaccinated visitors from “orange list” countries — including the U.S. and Britain — can’t come for tourism either, only for specific, imperative reasons.

ITALY

Italy is now allowing tourists from the United States, Canada and Japan to enter if they meet the prerequisites for a European Union travel certificate. Those include full vaccination, documented recovery from COVID-19 in the last six months or a negative swab test performed 48 hours before arrival in Italy.

U.S. travelers had already been allowed to enter for the past few weeks if they flew on COVID-tested flights, which require a negative swab test within 48 hours before boarding.

Alitalia and at least two U.S. airlines have been operating those flights, which also require an additional swab test for passengers at the airport where they disembark in Italy. Those passengers, under a U.S.-Italy agreement, don’t have to quarantine either in Italy or in the United States upon their return. But so far it appears very few U.S. tourists have been coming to Italy.

Demonstrating how fast things can change, Italy had been welcoming tourists from Britain with no quarantines, but as of Monday they must quarantine for five days upon arrival. That reflects growing concern in Italy about the delta variant of COVID-19 in Britain.

Tourists who are flying from or have been in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in the past 14 days are banned.

GREECE

Tourism-reliant Greece started opening to American travelers back in April, and now visitors from China, Britain and more than 20 other countries are also allowed to visit for nonessential travel.

All must provide a vaccination certificate or a negative PCR test and fill in a passenger locator form on their plans in Greece. This directive expires on June 14, but could be extended.

Athens long pressed for a common EU approach, but didn’t wait for one to materialize. On June 1, Greece, Germany and five other bloc members introduced a COVID certificate system for travelers, weeks ahead of the July 1 rollout of the program across the 27-nation bloc.

SPAIN

Spain kicked off its summer tourism season by welcoming vaccinated visitors from the U.S. and most countries, as well as European visitors who can prove they are not infected.

Americans and most other non-Europeans need an official vaccine certificate by a health authority. Spain accepts those who were inoculated with the four EU-approved vaccines as well two Chinese vaccines authorized by the World Health Organization — as long as visitors are fully vaccinated at least two weeks before the trip.

Arrivals from Brazil, South Africa and India are banned at the moment because of high infection rates there, and non-vaccinated Americans and many other non-EU nationalities cannot come to Spain for tourism for now.

But there are exemptions for countries considered at low risk, such as citizens from Britain, who can arrive without any health documents at all. EU citizens need to provide proof of vaccination, a certificate showing they recently recovered from COVID-19, or a negative antigen or PCR test taken within 48 hours of arrival.

BRITAIN

There are few, if any, American tourists in the U.K. at present. Britain has a traffic-light system for assessing countries by risk, and the U.S. along with most European nations is on the “amber” list, meaning everyone arriving has to self-isolate at home or in the place they are staying for 10 days.

People arriving from “red list” countries including India and Brazil must quarantine in a government-approved hotel.

Airlines and airport operators are pushing for European tourism destinations to be added to Britain’s short “green list” of quarantine-free destinations, and to open a U.K.-U.S. travel corridor, but the British government is being cautious amid the spread of the more contagious delta variant of the virus.

Meanwhile, anyone traveling between Britain and continental Europe, be warned: In addition to the isolation requirement for those arriving or returning to U.K. shores, rising concern about the delta variant of the virus has prompted some other countries to introduce special restrictions for those arriving from Britain.

EUROPEAN UNION

The European Union has recommended that its 27 member countries start lifting restrictions on tourists from the United States, along with a handful of other countries including North Macedonia, Albania, Serbia, Lebanon and Taiwan.

But the recommendation is non-binding, and national governments have authority to require test results or vaccination records and to set other entry conditions.

The EU has been working for months on a joint digital travel certificate for those vaccinated, freshly tested, or recently recovered from the virus.

The free certificates, which will contain a QR code with advanced security features, will allow people to move between European countries without having to quarantine or undergo extra coronavirus tests upon arrival.

Several EU countries have already begun using the system, including Spain, Germany, Greece, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark and Poland. The rest are expected to start using it July 1.

It’s mainly meant for EU citizens but Americans and others can obtain the certificate too — if they can convince authorities in an EU country they’re entering that they qualify for one. And the lack of an official U.S. vaccination certification system may complicate matters.

Spain Gears Up For Summer, Lifts Restrictions On UK Tourists

MADRID (AP) — Spain is revving up for a return of summer tourists, with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Friday offering an upbeat outlook after his government lifted travel restrictions on British visitors and the European Union moved a step closer to allowing cross-border travel.

Sánchez said those two developments will bring “a very much better summer” than last year, when the tourist industry in one of the world’s most popular vacation destinations was crushed by limits on travel and gatherings due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are hugely thrilled at the prospect of our tourism industry recovering, of the streets of our towns and cities filling up once more,” he told an annual tourism congress in Madrid.

Spain, Sánchez said, will be “delighted, extremely delighted” to receive British tourists again.

Spain is lifting its restrictions on travelers from the United Kingdom beginning Monday. In 2019, Britain sent 18 million people to Spain, the most of any country.

However, Sánchez didn’t mention that Spain is on the U.K. government’s amber list, meaning people traveling back to the U.K. from Spain still need to go into quarantine for 10 days and get multiple COVID-19 tests — a consideration that is likely to dampen enthusiasm for a Spanish holiday. Britons who can’t work from home likely will not be going to Spain until the rules change.

Sánchez said it was “extraordinary news” that the EU is poised to introduce by July 1 a system of COVID-19 travel certificates for EU citizens, allowing them to travel freely across the bloc.

Tourism is a mainstay of the Spanish economy and Sánchez expressed hope that it can be “the engine that hauls the economy forward” after the economic devastation of the pandemic.

The tourism sector accounted for 12% of Spanish GDP in 2019, but that plummeted to just under 6% in 2020.

EU Finalizing Plans To Allow US Tourists Back This Summer

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union is finalizing plans to allow tourists from the United States to travel to the 27-nation bloc this summer, officials said Monday.

More than a year after the EU restricted travel to the region to a bare minimum in a bid to contain the pandemic, the European Commission said it would make a recommendation to member states to allow American travelers back.

The commission didn’t say when exactly tourists will be allowed back inside the bloc, and if a reciprocal approach will apply to European tourists willing to travel to the U.S.

European Commission spokesman Adalbert Jahnz told reporters that the EU’s executive body is hoping to restore nonessential “trans-Atlantic travel as soon as it is safe to do so.”

It wasn’t immediately clear if only full vaccination would be accepted for entry, or whether a negative PCR test or proof of recent recovery from COVID-19 could be presented as well.

“These are among the questions we’ll still need to figure out,” Jahnz said. “The proposal is not yet made. For now, we have nothing more to go by than what the (European Commission) president said.”

On Sunday, The New York Times published an interview with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, reporting that fully vaccinated Americans would be able to visit EU countries this summer since all coronavirus vaccines currently used in the U.S. have also been approved by the EU’s drug regulator. But the report didn’t mention whether she was asked about whether Americans could also provide a negative PCR test or evidence of recovering from COVID-19.

“The Americans, as far as I can see, use European Medicines Agency-approved vaccines,” von der Leyen said in the interview. “This will enable free movement and the travel to the European Union. Because one thing is clear: All 27 member states will accept, unconditionally, all those who are vaccinated with vaccines that are approved by EMA.”

Jahnz insisted that the return of American tourists to EU nations will be conditioned on the epidemiological situation in both the U.S. and within the bloc.

The European Union is putting the finishing touches to a system of certificates that would allow EU residents to travel freely across the region by the summer as long as they have been vaccinated, tested negative for COVID-19 or recovered from the disease. Under the plan discussed with their U.S. counterparts, American tourists could be included in the program.

With more than 15 million Americans estimated to travel to Europe annually before the crisis, the recommendation from the commission is manna from heaven for the heavily hit European tourism sector. But EU member states will have the final say on whether to implement the guidelines.

The commission said other third countries have made similar requests, but didn’t name them. Asked whether negotiations with the United Kingdom were ongoing, European Commission spokesman Christian Wigand said “no contact to this end” has been made.

Travel to the EU is currently extremely limited except for a handful of countries with low infection rates including Australia and New Zealand. But Greece, which is heavily reliant on tourism, has already lifted quarantine restrictions for the U.S., Britain, the United Arab Emirates, Serbia, Israel, and non-EU members Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland that are part of a European travel pact. Travelers from those countries will no longer be subject to a seven-day quarantine requirement if they hold a vaccination certificate or negative PCR test.

“Uniliteral approaches, from our perspective should be avoided,” Jahnz said. “The objective is to continue to have a coordinated approach on the European level.”

By By SAMUEL PETREQUIN