The majority of EU Member States have lifted travel and border restrictions with many European countries, allowing EU citizens to travel again and enjoy their holidays away from home.
BRUSSELS – ECTAA welcomed the launch by the Commission of a dedicated website reopen.europa.eu, which provides information on where and how EU citizens can travel and what they may expect at the destination. This will help them to confidently plan their European travel and holidays, while staying healthy and safe.
But all is not perfect yet! There are still too many unfounded travel restrictions in place within Europe. ECTAA calls on all Member States to follow the recommendations of the European Commission for a coordinated lifting of internal border restrictions where there is sufficient convergence of the epidemiological situation and where necessary safety and precautionary means are in place.
ECTAA also calls on EU Member States to follow the Commission’s proposed approach for starting to phase out restrictions from travel from/to non-EU countries as from 1 July.
Said Pawel Niewiadomski, President of ECTAA: “All decisions should be done having the safety of travellers in mind. But blanket travel restrictions without regard to the epidemiological situations are unfounded and hamper the very fragile economic recovery of the tourism industry.”
He added: “We call on Member States to quickly prepare the list of non-EU countries for which travel restrictions from/to could be lifted. Many popular holiday destinations around the Mediterranean Sea and elsewhere meet the Commission criteria and should be considered as a matter of priority.”
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
