Rays of sunshine for hopes of holidaying abroad this year
Ryanair is ready for take-off and ‘air bridges’ are planned – but where might we be able to travel for summer, asks Pól Ó Conghaile
‘SUMMER is not yet lost,” Leo Varadkar has said. It caps a week in which Italy became the first European country to reopen to visitors without quarantine – Spain, Greece and Portugal are close behind.
The Taoiseach says Ireland will now look to open “air bridges” with countries that have suppressed the virus to a similar extent.
Hard dates, of course, remain a moving target; the thorny issue of Ireland’s 14-day quarantine remains, and official advice remains against “non-essential travel”.
The European Commission has urged members to co-ordinate, but so far we’re seeing a mish-mash of strategies.
Here are the main movers for holidaymakers – with everything still subject to change.
1. Italy
Italy reopened to European visitors, without quarantine, on June 3.
Who would have thought it, just a few weeks ago? After strict lockdowns succeeded in suppressing the spread of Covid-19, hotels, beaches, museums, attractions and pools are all now open for business.
Social distancing and health measures are a feature, of course – people must wear a mask in enclosed spaces and on public transport. Guests need to keep a one-metre distance between each other in bars, hotels and restaurants, and 10m sq is allocated to each umbrella on beaches.
The next question... will tourists actually visit?
2. The Canary Islands
The Canaries plan to open to visitors from July 1.
They will not face quarantine but tests for Covid-19 will be recommended before travel and there will be temperature checks at airports. If a test is taken on the islands and the result is positive, the family will be quarantined.
Balancing such health measures – and others like enhanced cleaning, adapted buffets and social distancing on beaches – with relaxing holidays will be key to rescuing the season.
“The Canary Islands will not be a hospital,” said Cristina Del Río Fresen, leader of the islands’ Global Tourism Safety Lab.
3. Spain
Mainland Spain has made another surprising recovery, with plans now to reopen to overseas visitors, without quarantine, from July 1.
It is working on the concept of “safe tourist routes” with other countries.
“We are not competing to be the first to open, but to open with health guarantees and risk-free for tourists,” said Minister for Tourism Reyes Maroto.
It’s likely tourism will recover more quickly in areas like the Balearic and Canary Islands, Basque Country, Murcia and Galicia, than Madrid and Barcelona.
4. Portugal
Portugal’s bathing season officially restarts this weekend, hotels are opening, and waterparks will resume shortly – all with new health and social distancing measures, of course.
Beach sunshades must be three metres apart, masks are mandatory in beach bars or restaurants, and beach-goers must keep a 1.5m distance unless part of the same group.
With no quarantine on entry, Ryanair is now listing a resumption of flights between Dublin and Faro from June 23, with a daily schedule from June 30. TAP Portugal will resume its Dublin-Lisbon service from July 3.
Holidaymakers will face temperature screening.
5. Greece
Hugely dependent on tourism, Greece has a relatively low Covid-19 caseload (fewer than 3,000) and will open two airports from June 15, welcoming overseas visitors from July 1.
Irish people are among those permitted to travel “without quarantine”, it was confirmed this week, among a list of more than two dozen other countries.
6. Malta
Commercial flights resume from July 1. Ireland is one of the initial destinations from which travel to Malta will be allowed. Visitors will face temperature checks and fill in locator forms.
“With the opening of our airport, we can now start to inform our overseas partners and customers that the time to simply dream is over, and the actual visiting can begin once again,” said Malta tourism authority deputy chief executive Carlo Micallef.
7. France
A whopping €18bn plan to reboot tourism is in play with some cafés and restaurants having reopened on May 25, beaches and parks open to locals from June 2, and the French permitted to go on holiday from July – provided the virus situation doesn’t deteriorate. However, a 14-day quarantine for overseas visitors remains. It could last to the official end of emergency measures on July 24, but Prime Minister Édouard Philippe said it favours opening travel from EU states from June 15 without quarantine.
8. Iceland
High prices make it a oncein-a-lifetime holiday for most but Iceland moved swiftly to contain the coronavirus and quickly curbed the spread, thanks in part to its tiny population of just 364,000.
It plans to reopen for tourists by June 15 with visitors offered the option of a free coronavirus test on arrival or a spell in quarantine.