#Germany to lift travel warning to most European countries from June 15

Germany will lift its blanket travel warning for European nations from June 15, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Wednesday, as the continent looks to further ease restrictions imposed to contain the corona-virus.

Germany introduced an unprecedented warning against all foreign travel in mid-March. But with new infections sharply down, the government is looking for ways to restart the economy.

“We have decided today that the travel warning for the named circle of countries will not be continued but replaced by travel advice,” Maas said, referring to EU nations, other Schengen countries and Britain.

The individual advice will be for a total of 31 nations, “provided that there are no longer any entry bans or large-scale lockdowns in the respective countries”, he said.

The advice could still include warnings against travel to certain countries, such as Norway and Spain, which still have their own entry restrictions in place.

Germany will be watching contagion data very carefully, Maas added, saying that warnings could be reintroduced if new infections were to reach 50 per 100,000 people in a week in the country concerned.

#Germany reported just 342 new cases of the corona-virus on Wednesday – down from more than 6,000 a day at the height of new infections in March.

The #Dutch government announced it will ease warnings against non-essential foreign travel from the same date.

#Belgium reopens borders to EU travelers

Belgium announced on Wednesday that it would reopen its borders to travelers from the European Union, Britain and members of Europe's passport-free travel zone on June 15.

Prime Minister Sophie Wilmes announced the measure as Belgium emerges from a three-month corona-virus lockdown, adding that bars and restaurants would reopen on June 8.

"From June 8 everything will be allowed, with exceptions," Wilmes told a news conference after a meeting of the country's national security council.

"The virus is still among us, it is still taking victims and will probably take more, and certainly if we are not vigilant," she added, saying large gatherings would remain banned until August 31. Nightclubs also cannot open before the end of August.

Wilmes said cultural activities would continue without spectators until July 1, when cinemas and other cultural spaces can open with a maximum of 200 people. Gyms can reopen from Monday, but with no access to changing rooms.

Belgium, where the European Union and NATO are headquartered, imposed its coronavirus lockdown on March 18. With 9,522 deaths from the outbreak, including in care homes, densely populated Belgium suffered one of the world's highest per capital tolls from Covid-19.

But cases have dropped off dramatically in recent days, with just 70 new confirmed  infections reported on Tuesday, down from around 700 hospitalizations a day in late March.

Phased restart

The EU set out plans in May for a phased restart of travel this summer, with border controls eventually lifted and measures to minimise the risks of infection, like wearing face masks on shared transport.

Some countries have already started reopening their borders in a bid to revive the embattled tourism industry.

Italy reopened to travelers from Europe on Wednesday, and Austria is lifting restrictions in mid-June with Germany, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.

German tour operator TUI said Wednesday it would be resuming flights to popular holiday destinations, with the first flight scheduled for Portugal on June 17, according to news site Business Insider (BI).

“Our main destinations will be the Balearic Islands, Canaries, Greece, Portugal and Cyprus,” TUI chief executive Marek Andryszak told BI.

However, the German foreign minister, Maas, continued to urge caution.

“I know that this decision raises great hope and expectations but I want to say again: travel warnings are not travel bans, and travel advice is not an invitation to travel,” Maas said.

He also warned that Germany would not be repeating its unprecedented and costly effort to rescue stranded Germans from around the world in the first weeks of the pandemic.

In Berlin, residents were divided over whether lifting the travel warning was a good idea.

“If I fly somewhere, I will be afraid about coming back again because maybe it will get worse and they will close the borders again,” said Berlin resident Regina.

Another, Henri, was more optimistic: “There are masks, so I'm not afraid. I mean, I don't understand what this is all about anyway.”

Germany still has a travel warning in place for Turkey, Ukraine and the Western Balkans.

The government will review this after an expected European Commission decision next week on whether to extend entry restrictions for citizens of third countries, Maas said.

(France 24 with AFP and Reuters)

#Portugal ready to welcome back tourists, says government

 

 Portugal's doors are open to tourists, the country's Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva said on Friday, one of the first European countries to welcome back visitors from elsewhere in the continent.

"Tourists are welcome in Portugal," Santos Silva told newspaper Observador, explaining that some health checks will be introduced at airports but there will be no compulsory quarantine for those flying in.

Portugal, which has so far recorded 30,200 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 1,289 deaths, is slowly easing restrictions in place since it locked down in mid-March.

It has been less affected than its neighbor Spain or Italy, which both plan to reopen next month.

Many shops and restaurants in Portugal have already reopened under strict restrictions as part of an effort to revive the country's export-oriented, tourism-dependent economy.

"Portugal's health system responds well, and this is very important for us to be able to welcome people," Santos Silva said.

The minister's comments came a day after British low-cost airline easyJet, which operates in various Portuguese cities, said it would restart a small number of flights next month.

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Earlier this month Portugal's flag carrier TAP resumed some of its international operations, with flights to London and Paris.

Flights to and from outside the European Union are still temporarily suspended until June 15, with some exceptions, including some routes to and from Portuguese-speaking nations like Brazil.

The Spain-Portugal land border, which has been closed to tourists since March, will also remain shut until then.

"We are gradually going to start looking at easing border controls," Internal Affairs Minister Eduardo Cabrita said on Friday.

The tourism industry, one of the hardest hit by the outbreak, contributed 14.6 percent to gross domestic product in 2018, according to the latest official data, and helped Portugal to recover from a severe debt crisis.

The sector registered a 62 percent slump in the number of people staying in holiday accommodation in March from a year ago and total hotel revenues fell by over 57 percent.

Unemployment in the Algarve region more than doubled in April compared with the same month last year as the lockdown kept foreign visitors away and wiped out seasonal jobs.

Source - TheJakartaPost

Italy to reopen borders for EU tourists in early June

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Italy will reopen to European tourists from early June and scrap a 14-day mandatory quarantine period, the government said on Saturday, as it quickened the exit from the coronavirus lockdown.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte also said on Saturday that gyms and cinemas would soon be able to welcome the public again, as the government seeks to restart economic activity while treading cautiously amid the lingering, though waning, coronavirus.

"We're facing a calculated risk in the knowledge that the contagion curve may rise again," Conte said during a televised address. "We have to accept it otherwise we will never be able to start up again."

Conte enforced an economically crippling shutdown in early March to counter a pandemic that has so far killed nearly 32,000 people in Italy.

The shutdown halted all holidaymaking in a country heavily dependent on the tourism industry.

Although Italy never formally closed its borders and has allowed people to cross back and forth for work or health reasons, it banned movement for tourism and imposed a two-week isolation period for new arrivals.

In March, the European Union banned foreign nationals from entering its Schengen zone, an open border zone comprising 22 of 27 member states, with exceptions for medical workers and essential travel.

But on Wednesday, the EU set out plans for a phased restart of summer travel, urging member states to reopen its internal borders, while recommending that external borders remain shut for most travel until at least the middle of June.

Beginning on June 3, visitors within the Schengen zone will be allowed to enter Italy with no obligation to self-isolate. Italians will also be able to move between regions, though local authorities can limit travel if infections spike.

Movements to and from abroad can be limited by regional decree "in relation to specific states and territories, in accordance with the principles of adequacy and proportionality to the epidemiological risk", the government said in a statement.

The latest decree is also a boon to Italy's agricultural sector, which relies on roughly 350,000 seasonal workers from abroad.

Farming lobby group Coldiretti said farms were already preparing to organie some 150,000 workers from places including Romania, Poland and Bulgaria.

Cannot await vaccine 
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The peak of Italy's contagion passed at the end of March but with experts warning a second wave cannot be ruled out, Conte had been reluctant to lift the lockdown quickly.

In his address, Conte said the country should ideally await a vaccine before opening up for business again, "but we can't afford it, we would end up with a strongly damaged economic and social structure".

His approach in recent weeks frustrated many of Italy's regions, with some already allowing businesses to reopen before the restrictions were lifted.

Restaurants, bars and hairdressers are being allowed to reopen on Monday, two weeks earlier than initially planned.

Shops will also open and Italians will finally be able to see friends, as long as they live within their same region.

Church services will begin again but the faithful will have to follow social distancing rules and holy water fonts will be empty. Mosques will also reopen.

Gyms, pools and sports centers will be able to open up again on May 25, Conte said on Saturday, provided they respect security protocols.

Theaters and cinemas will be allowed to reopen on June 15, he said.

Gatherings of large groups remain banned.

Source - TheJakartaPost

'Europe needs a break': EU plots to restart travel and tourism despite COVID-19

EU states should guarantee vouchers for travel cancelled during the coronavirus pandemic and start lifting internal border restrictions in a bid to salvage some of the summer tourism season, the bloc's executive will say next week.

Tourism, that normally contributes almost a tenth of the European Union's economic output, is among the sectors hardest hit by the global outbreak that has grounded nearly all travel.

Germany and other member states have urged a suspension of EU rules that force cash-drained airlines and the hospitality industry to offer full refunds for cancelled flights and trips instead of vouchers for future travel.

In response, the European Commission will tell member states to guarantee vouchers to make them more attractive to customers, according to a strategy document seen by Reuters ahead of official publication due on Wednesday.

"To provide incentives for passengers and travelers to accept vouchers instead of reimbursement, vouchers should be protected against insolvency of the issuer and remain refundable by the end of their validity if not redeemed," the draft document said.

"Insolvency protection needs to be assured at the national level and secured vouchers need to be accessible to all passengers and travelers," it added.

The EU executive will also tell the bloc's 27 member countries to gradually lift internal border restrictions and restart some travel to help the ailing tourism sector.

'Grave trouble'

Tourism normally brings some 150 billion euros every season form June through August with some 360 million international arrivals, according to the Commission.

But Europe's external borders are now bound to be shut for any non-essential travel until at least mid-June, an emergency measure to limit the spread of the virus.

"Our tourism industry is in grave trouble," the Commission is due to say, warning that 6.4 million jobs could be lost in the sector that has reported falls in revenue ranging from 50 percent for hotels and restaurants to 90 percent for cruises and airlines.

The pandemic set the EU on a path towards its worst-ever economic downturn and bitterly tested unity between member states fighting over medical equipment, export bans on drugs, chaotic border curbs and money to salvage their single market.

Titled "Europe needs a break" the Commission's tourism strategy will call for targeted restrictions to replace a general ban on travel and seek a gradual lifting of internal border checks where the health situation has improved.

With Europeans most likely to stay at home or travel shorter distances this summer, peripheral EU regions and islands are likely to be shunned and will take longer to bounce back.

"Until a vaccine or treatment is available, the needs and benefits of travel and tourism needs to be weighed against the risks of again facilitating the spread of the virus... possibly leading to a reintroduction of confinement measures," the draft plan said. 

Source - TheJakartaPost