The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
When will the travel map be ‘green’ again?
Perhaps we have Norway to thank. The Nordic country’s groundbreaking decision to scrap all entry requirements on February 12, returning travel to its pre-pandemic normal, triggered something of a domino effect. Iceland followed suit on February 25, Britain on March 18, and Denmark on March 30. Now, what began as a trickle has become a deluge. The era of Covid travel restrictions – in Europe, at least – is becoming a thing of the past, with the restriction map of the continent rapidly transforming from a hectic matrix of red, orange and yellow warnings into a calming sea of green.
The summer holiday favourites of Croatia and Greece are among the latest to join the club, with May 1 marking the date for a return to holidays devoid of red tape (your standard passport excluded). Switzerland signed up for travel normality on May 2. Serbia, North Macedonia, Bulgaria and Albania represent four more recently minted members of the green team.
It all means that, as of May 4, an impressive 25 countries in Europe have scrapped every last travel restriction. No testing, no forms – regardless of vaccine status. These are: Albania,
Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Kosovo, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.
The above list vindicates the experts that Telegraph Travel spoke to earlier this year. “Many countries will follow the UK and abandon travel rules in the coming weeks as they learn to live with Covid,” Paul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy the PC Agency, said at the time. “For once the industry has much to be positive about.”
Professor Francois Balloux, director of University College London’s Genetics Institute, said “more liberal governments like Sweden and Switzerland” would be among the first to “turn the page”, adding: “In some countries, such as Italy and Spain, I think they have been so traumatised over the last two years that it might take longer to get back to normal.”
Spain remains one of the strictest countries in terms of entry requirements, with all unvaccinated or (if their second dose was more than 270 days ago) unboosted adults banned.
No country in Europe asks vaccinated travellers to take a Covid test. However, several demand proof of a recent negative test from unjabbed visitors, including holiday favourites France, Italy, Portugal and Turkey.
Beyond Europe, a few countries have scrapped every travel barrier, including Mexico, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Cuba and the Maldives, but the rest of the world is largely playing catch-up. Restrictions remain the rule, rather than the exception. Indeed, 10 countries – China, Japan, Taiwan, Myanmar, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu – are still closed to all tourists.
Elsewhere, testing is widespread for unvaccinated arrivals (for example in Dubai, Egypt, India, Tunisia, the Dominican Republic, Peru and Brazil) or for all (eg, Australia, New Zealand, Morocco, the US, South Africa, Tanzania, Vietnam). A large number (including Australia, New Zealand, Morocco, the US and Canada) ban unjabbed visitors entirely. The world may be turning “green” once more, but the process won’t be complete for some time.