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world news Dialuna 26 Juli 2021

Europe's summer tourism outlook dimmed by variants, rules

(AP) — Chaos and confu- for unvaccinated tourists and
sion over travel rules and residents, banning their entry
measures to contain new to all indoor dining and en-
virus outbreaks are con- tertainment venues.
tributing to another cruel Development Minister
summer for Europe’s bat- Adonis Georgiadis urged the
tered tourism industry. travel industry to put on a
brave face.
Popular destination countries
are grappling with surging “It’s very important that we
COVID-19 variants, but the do not give the impression
patchwork and last-minute that we have lost control of
nature of the efforts as the the pandemic,” Georgiadis
peak season gets underway said last week.
threatens to derail another
summer. Some countries sparked cha-
os with last-minute changes
In France, the world’s most to entry rules.
visited country, visitors to
cultural and tourist sites were Denmark’s decision to up-
confronted this week with a grade Britain to its “red” list
new requirement for a special of countries with tighter trav-
COVID-19 pass. el restrictions threw London
resident Richard Moorby’s
To get the pass, which comes vacation plans into disarray.
in paper or digital form, peo- according to U.N. World traveling to the country be- figure from two years ago.
ple must prove they’re either Tourism Organization fig- cause of the risk of contract- Spain’s secretary of state Moorby originally planned to
fully vaccinated or recently ures. ing COVID-19 variants, for tourism, Fernando Val- go to Copenhagen in August
recovered from an infection, American, Japanese and Chi- while the U.S. State Depart- dés, credited the European to meet up with his Danish
or produce a negative virus nese travelers aren’t confi- ment raised its alert level to Union’s deployment in June wife and their two children
test. Use of the pass could dent it will be possible to “do not travel” from the pre- of its digital COVID-19 vac- visiting his in-laws — like
extend next month to restau- visit and move freely within vious less severe “reconsider cine passport for having a “a they did last summer. But
rants and cafes. Europe, the European Travel travel” advisory. positive impact” on foreign under current rules Moorby
Italy said Thursday that peo- Commission said. Interna- The recommendations are arrivals. That, and the U.K. wouldn’t have been able to
ple will need a similar pass to tional arrivals are forecast to constantly under review and move to allow nonessential travel separately because he’s
access museums and movie remain at nearly half their not binding, although they travel, “allowed us to start the not Danish. They planned
theaters, dine inside restau- 2019 level this year, though may affect group tours and 2021 summer season in the instead to travel together,
rants and cafes, and get into domestic demand will help insurance rates. Britain’s best conditions,” he said. which they thought would be
pools, casinos and a range of make up the shortfall. warning has fluctuated sev- allowed even after the change
other venues. eral times this year already. The EU app allows the bloc’s — but they missed the an-
The U.K.’s statistics office Some countries are showing residents to show they’ve nouncement’s fine print
At the Eiffel Tower, unpre- suspended its monthly in- signs of a rebound, however. been vaccinated, tested nega- prohibiting non-Danes from
pared tourists lined up for ternational passenger data, tive or recovered from the “red list” countries including
quick virus tests so they could because it said there aren’t Spain, the world’s second- virus. the U.K. from visiting with-
get the pass to visit the Paris enough people arriving “to most visited country, received In Greece, where COV- out a worthy purpose, which
landmark. Johnny Nielsen, provide robust estimates.” 3.2 million tourists from Jan- ID-19 infections are also ris- doesn’t include tourism.
visiting from Denmark with uary to May — a tenth of the ing sharply, authorities have
his wife and two children, The United States this week amount in the same period openly expressed concern “It was going to be a bit of a
questioned the usefulness of upgraded its travel warn- of 2019. But visits surged in that slowing vaccination rates non-holiday anyway,” Moor-
the French rules. ing for Britain to the highest June with 2.3 million arrivals, could hurt the struggling by said. But “it went from,
level. The Centers for Dis- the best monthly figure since tourism industry, a mainstay ‘We’d have a nice holiday in
“If I get tested now, I can go ease Control and Prevention the start of the pandemic, al- of the economy. Authorities Denmark,’ to ‘well, maybe I
but then I (could) get coro- advised Americans to avoid though still only 75% of the have tightened restrictions can just about get there,’ to ‘I
na in the queue right here,” can’t even travel’.”
Nielsen said, though he
added they wouldn’t change Meanwhile, the U.K. gov-
their plans because of it. ernment unexpectedly an-
nounced that travelers com-
Juan Truque, a tourist from ing from France would still
Miami, said he wasn’t vac- have to self-isolate for up 10
cinated but took a test so he days because of worries about
could travel to France via the beta variant, frustrating
Spain with his mother. travelers and angering the
“Now they are forcing you to tourism industry and French
wear masks and to do similar government.
kind of things that are impo-
sitions to you. To me, they Emma and Ben Heywood,
are violations to your free- the British owners of adven-
dom.” he said. ture travel company Undis-
covered Montenegro, said
Europe’s vital travel and booking inquiries are surging
tourism industry is desperate after the U.K. government
to make up after a disastrous said in the same announce-
2020. International tourist ment it would stop advising
arrivals to Europe last year against travel to countries on
plunged by nearly 70%, and its “amber list” and dropped
for the first five months of the self-isolation rule for re-
this year, they’re down 85%, turning travelers.