EU plans to get tourism industry back on track

THE European Union has unveiled its plan to help citizens across its 27 nations salvage their summer holidays. The union hopes to resurrect Europe’s battered tourism industry after months of coronavirus confinement.

Around 150,000 people have died across Europe since the virus surfaced in northern Italy in February, but with the spread of the disease tapering off, people in many countries are cautiously venturing out of confinement to return to work and some schools are re-opening.

A question on the minds of people, tour operators and the thousands of small businesses that depend on the tourism industry is whether the summer months this year will be reduced to a home-style “staycation”.

In a series of guidelines, the European Commission laid out its advice for lifting ID checks on hastily closed borders, helping to get airlines, ferries and buses running while ensuring the safety of passengers and crew, and preparing health measures for hotels to reassure clients.

But a big question remains: will the countries of the world’s biggest trading bloc follow the advice?

Faced with a disease about which much is still unknown, national capitals have tended to go it alone and they – not the commission – have the final say over health and security matters.

The commission’s overarching advice is that EU countries with similar rates of coronavirus infections and comparably strong health care systems should begin lifting border measures between each other. Tourists from outside Europe cannot enter until at least June 15.

The move comes amid deep concern that Europe’s ID check-free travel zone – the Schengen Area

– is being strangled by controls.