TRAVEL UPDATES Forbes Travel
E.U. Recommends Travel Ban for American Tourists
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As expected, the European Union recommended, as of August 30, that its 27 member nations reinstate travel restrictions for American tourists because of rising coronavirus infections in the United States. The European Council has decided to remove the U.S. from its ‘safe list’ of countries for nonessential travel. This is a reversal from its June decision to recommend lifting restrictions on American travelers just as the summer tourism season kicked off. However, this guidance is non-binding, so individual countries in the E.U. bloc can decide to impose their own sets of restrictions. Travelers should expect a messy patchwork of different rules and regulations across the continent, much like they encounter a mishmash of non-uniform rules and regulations across the U.S. Despite the E.U.’s recommendation, some countries in the bloc will likely continue to allow fully vaccinated Americans to visit as long as they show proof of their vaccination status. Unvaccinated U.S. travelers will likely be faced with rigorous restrictions including frequent testing and quarantines upon entry, if they are allowed to enter at all. Five other countries were also removed from the E.U.’s safe travel list today: Israel, Kosovo, Lebanon, Montenegro, and North Macedonia. The United States never reopened its own borders to E.U. tourists during the pandemic, a point of contention among many Europeans. The new recommendation, they say, reflects a certain reciprocity. The threshold for being on the E.U. safe travel list is having fewer than 75 new Covid-19 cases daily per 100,000
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inhabitants over the previous 14 days. Currently the United States has an infection rate roughly seven times above that threshold. The Delta variant of the coronavirus has ravaged the United States all summer, leading to spikes in hospitalizations and deaths rivaling where the country was in December and January. According to the Brown School of Public Health’s risk assessment tracker, the level of infections in the U.S. is currently twice that of France, three times that of Spain, and more than five times that of Italy. Information from Forbes.com
Quarantine-free countries
As of August 15, 2021, with the implementation of the vaccine passport, many countries are easing their quarantine requirements and making allowances to accommodate international arrivals. While the following countries do provide a quarantine-free travel experience, please note that in most cases waiving the quarantine period is contingent on the testing and/or vaccination status of the traveler. The following is our selection of the top countries that do not require visitors to quarantine. Jordan Jordan’s generosity and hospitality are simply boundless—since ancient times, the land has always been welcoming to countless strangers and visitors. As such, not even the pandemic can stop you from paying your respect to Jordan’s ancient rock city of Petra. No one can claim to have ever visited Jordan without spending a full day www.rotoworldmag.com 27
