The European Tourism Manifesto alliance, the voice of the travel and tourism sector in Europe, strongly supports countries in their efforts to progressively remove travel restrictions. The alliance continues to call for policymakers to lift entry restrictions on third countries and discontinue the White List, moving fully to an individual-based approach.
The White List is a list of non-EU countries who are deemed ‘safe’, from which travellers will be allowed to enter the EU for non-essential travel. South Africa is not currently on this list, nor is the US. Australia, Canada and New Zealand are on the list.
The alliance stresses that travel restrictions have proven ineffective in stopping the spread of the virus, at most postponing the arrival of a new wave of infection by a few days. This is supported by the World Health Organization, who underlined the failure of travel restrictions to limit international spread of Omicron variant and pointed out the “ineffectiveness of such measures over time”.
The alliance continues to call for the following changes:
- The use of the EU Digital COVID Certificate should not be used as a reason to impose additional restrictions to the freedom of movement such as the temporary reintroduction of controls at internal borders. It should be discontinued as soon as there is a clear indication that the virus has reached a manageable level of transmission that does not result in severe impacts on public health.
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All vaccines that have completed the WHO emergency use listing procedure should be included in the Digital COVID Certificate.
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Should EU Member States resume the use of the certificate for travel, or allowing access to bars, restaurants, hotels, museums, sites, concert halls, trade fair centres and other venues, it is essential that national rules mirror border and travel requirements. Member States should accept all the certificates (vaccination, recovery, testing) that are accepted at the border at national level.
“The updated Recommendations should also foresee the lifting of all restrictions for travel within and into the EU, as soon as the epidemiological situation allows, especially considering the upcoming season which is critical for the sector’s recovery,” the alliance adds in an official statement.
