The EU has approved a proposal to allow vaccinated tourists from outside the European Union to visit this summer. They also voted to relax the criteria and release a new list of "safe" travel countries. The safe countries, which visitors could enter without vaccination, are those with 75 or less Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people in the previous 14 days.
The EU on Wednesday decided to add more countries to the Safe List, which allows non-essential travel to the bloc.
This new recommendation at the EU level aims to coordinate the travel rules across the bloc and should be finalized in coming days, following the national decisions from each member state.
The New Safe Countries Are:
- United States
- Taiwan
- Albania
- Lebanon
- North Macedonia
- Serbia
- Hong Kong (only based on reciprocity)
- Macau (only based on reciprocity)
What This Means?
For countries on the safe list, such as the United States, this means that people from that country will be eligible to enter the European Union even if not vaccinated. Americans will be allowed non-essential travel to the EU Member states.
This new EU recommendation could go one step further, allowing tourists from the safe list to visit with only a negative test and avoid the need for a period of quarantine. It is now up to the individual EU countries to decide how they will implement the guidelines and allow tourists to enter. Travellers should confirm the rules on their intended destination before flying.
Wednesday’s recommendation at the EU level aims to coordinate the travel rules across the bloc and should be finalized in coming days, following the national decisions from each member state.
Current List of Safe Countries:
- Australia
- New Zealand
- Rwanda
- Singapore
- South Korea
- Thailand
- China, subject to confirmation of reciprocity
- Israel
- Japan
Travel restrictions should also be lifted for the special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macao, subject to confirmation of reciprocity.