Europe’s patchwork reopening
Competing strategies will only cause chaos, confusion, expert says
As the summer tourist season approaches and western Europe’s COVID-19 crisis continues to subside, leaders across the continent are deciding whether and how to lift the border restrictions that they imposed amid a flurry of emergency measures in March. The European Commission has urged its members to co-ordinate their reopening, but a patchwork of strategies has emerged. Some countries — Italy and Germany among them — are reopening earlier and more widely. Others — like Switzerland, Denmark and the Baltic states — are proceeding more slowly, opting for “travel bubbles” or bespoke lists of countries whose citizens will be allowed entry.
Both approaches have drawn criticism. Bubbles or corridors risk creating confusion and could be seen as discriminatory, some observers say. But opening borders among countries where the epidemiological situations are vastly different risks triggering an increase in cases, which officials are determined to avoid. Indeed, all of the announced plans for reopening have come with an important caveat: if COVID-19 cases start to tick back up, then borders could again be forced to close.
“We need to be sure that a summer tourist season won’t come at the high price of a second wave of infections,” Heiko Maas, Germany’s foreign minister, said in May. “So there will be no ‘normal’ summer holiday this year. Whether the Baltic or the Mediterranean, the social distancing and hygiene rules will apply everywhere,” he said.
Some countries move quickly
Italy — which has Europe’s second-highest COVID-19 death toll, after Britain — has jumped ahead of its neighbours in welcoming back tourists, lifting border restrictions on visitors arriving from European countries as of June 3. The next major date in the continent’s reopening calendar will be June 15, when Germany and Belgium will allow entry to all EU nationals, as well as Britons and citizens of nations like Iceland, Norway and Switzerland that are within Europe but outside the EU. French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe has indicated that France will do the same, allowing quarantine-free travel for European visitors as of June 15.
The June 15 border openings will be like a “D-Day” for tourism in Europe, Italy’s foreign minister, Luigi Di Maio, told Italian broadcaster RAI. He added that Germans account for a significant share of Italy’s visitors, especially for high-end travel. The tourism sector accounts for 13 per cent of Italy’s gross domestic product.
“We must salvage what we can salvage from the summer to help our hoteliers and entrepreneurs,” Di Maio said.
The problem with travel bubbles
While Italy, Germany and France are planning to open up widely, other European nations are proceeding more cautiously, drawing up selective lists of countries from which travel will be allowed, or establishing “travel bubbles” along the lines of the one being considered by Australia and New Zealand.
Spain, one of the hardest-hit countries in Europe, is waiting until July to lift most of its travel restrictions. At that point, it plans to open up to visitors arriving from a list of nations where the epidemic is under control, according to Manuel Muniz, the Spanish government’s state secretary for global Spain.
That list hasn’t been finalized, Muniz said in an interview, but it will probably include most European nations, and could be expanded to a select group of countries from outside the region. (The country’s land borders with France and Portugal are due to reopen June 22.) He added that Spain has asked the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control for specific guidance on how the country should draw up its list.
“When you talk to epidemiologists, what they tell you is that if you have these two containers with equivalent amount of COVID risk, it’s almost irrelevant if there are transfers of movement of people from one place to the other,” Muniz said. He added that tourist destinations need to be able to do four things in order to welcome visitors safely: track the virus’s spread, test anyone with symptoms, trace the contacts of those who test positive and treat those who fall ill.
Spain’s plan is just one example of a more tailored approach to reopening. On May 15, three Baltic states — Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania — began allowing free movement across their mutual borders, effectively establishing the first travel bubble in Europe. (Lithuania has since opened up to quarantine-free travel from 24 European countries including France and Italy, but not Spain or Sweden.)
Hungary and Slovenia created their own bubble later in May, while Croatia has begun allowing entry to nationals of 10 European countries, including Germany and Austria, but not hard-hit France, Italy or Spain. On June 15, Switzerland plans to open its borders with Austria, Germany and France, but not Italy, its neighbour to the south. On the same date, Denmark will reopen to visitors from Germany, Norway and Iceland, but only for stays of six nights or more, none of which can be in Copenhagen.
Also June 15, the Netherlands will begin allowing entry to nationals of 12 European countries, including Belgium, Germany and Italy, but not France,
Spain or Britain.
Greece, where tourism accounts for nearly a quarter of the gross national product, is casting a broader net, extending its bubble to passport holders from a bespoke list of 29 countries. Many of those are in Europe, but the list also includes China, Japan, Israel, New Zealand and a handful of other countries where authorities deemed the health situation under control; the United States is not on the list.
(Greece’s Civil Aviation Authority has since clarified that some arriving passengers may still be subject to quarantine requirements or mandatory COVID-19 testing.)
Portugal, however, is currently allowing flights from the United States, as well as Canada, Brazil and many European countries. Meanwhile, Britain remains open to visitors from anywhere in the world, although anyone arriving after Tuesday will be required to selfquarantine for 14 days or risk a 1,000-pound ($1,700) fine. The Republic of Ireland also remains open, but with a twoweek quarantine requirement.
This patchwork of reopening strategies is chaotic and will ultimately undermine European tourism, said Eduardo Santander, the executive director of the European Travel Commission, an association of national tourism organizations.
“I think that creating corridors, bubbles, bilateral agreements between countries only creates more confusion and frustration for the end consumer,” Santander said. He added that his organization has been lobbying for a harmonized return of travel and tourism across Europe.
“The information that is out there is so fragmented; it’s also so confusing,” he said, adding that freedom of movement is a pillar of European identity.
Others take it slowly
In many European countries — especially those along the Mediterranean coast — renewing the flow of tourists will be critical to keeping national economies afloat. But it’s not yet clear how many people will be willing to cross a border for their summer vacations.
“We don’t have tourism anymore. Corona has taken it all,” said Marjan Dasic, the manager of Tarsa, a popular restaurant in Rijeka, a Croatian seaside city that was selected as one of Europe’s cultural capitals for 2020.
Normally, you would have to call at least a year in advance to reserve a table at the restaurant, which can seat up to 200 people and welcomes tourists from across Europe and beyond, Dasic said. The restaurant reopened in May after two months of closure, “but it’s like we didn’t open, because no one is coming,” Dasic said, adding that another month without customers will force the restaurant to close for good.
In France, the mountain resort of Chamonix is preparing for a quieter summer than usual. Major events like mountain races, climbing competitions and music festivals have been cancelled, but the area’s trails will be open for hiking and mountain biking, and cable cars will be operating with new hygiene measures in place.