ARCHIVED - Europe to reopen its borders to vaccinated non-EU tourists
In what could be a great boost for tourism in Spain, the European Union has agreed entry to vaccinated non-EU travellers.
The EU Council is recommending that countries within Europe ease some current travel restrictions, in particular for those who have been vaccinated from third countries such as the UK.
From as early as June, non-EU travellers could enter Europe provided they can prove they have been fully immunised - received both doses of vaccine - at least 14 days before their trip.
The agreement today, Wednesday, May 19, comes a fortnight after the European Commission proposed opening the borders to third countries, and must now be ratified by the European Council of Ministers.
In what will surely be a huge boost to tourism in Spain, non-EU citizens will be able to move around Europe again if they can prove that they have been vaccinated with the full course of the vaccines authorised by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
However, it will be up to each member state on whether to allow entry with other vaccines currently in the process of validation by the European regulator.
While relaxed travel could become a reality as early as June, it's unlikely the EU will regain more than 40 per cent of its normal international travel, according to sector experts.
However, it's a step in the right direction, putting an end to the generalised blocking of non-essential travel which has been in place since last summer, bringing international travel to a virtual standstill.
Vaccination is key, and given that it will coincide with the implementation of the Covid Digital Green Certificate within the EU, it's not thought any different criteria will be established for non-European travellers.
But because border control is down to each individual country, they will have the option to impose additional measures, such as compulsory PCR tests, if they want to.
Spain is currently classified as an amber destination, and travellers flying back to the UK from Spain will have to quarantine for 10 days, or five days if they take a negative PCR test on day five.
The UK government’s Joint Biosecurity Centre will review the list every three weeks, taking into account factors including each country’s infection rate and level of vaccinations.
This means that Spain could potentially be moved to the UK’s green list in the first revision (or not, according to speculation in the UK media).
And in good news for the Region of Murcia, of Ryanair has announced that flights will resume this Friday (May 21) between Corvera and Manchester airports.